As of Wednesday afternoon, Virginia Tech and Virginia were listed 35th and 55th by rivals.com in its rating of the top college football recruits for the class of 2023.
Neither program had a committed player with as many as four stars out of the maximum of five stars. Tech had commitments from seven in-state players while UVa had five.
Latest to come aboard for the Hokies was Thomas Williams from Powdersville High School in Greenville, S.C.
At 5 foot 10 and 180 pounds, he’s a skilled position player who had 24 touchdowns rushing and receiving last season.
It was the 15th three-star commitment for the Hokies, whose class has been ranked ninth among ACC programs to this point.
Receiving considerable attention to this point is speedster Carmelo Taylor from Patrick Henry in Roanoke. Virginia Tech and Maryland are two of the schools in pursuit of Taylor, the nephew of former PH and UVa standout Shannon Taylor.
UVa has not been listed as one of leaders for Carmelo Taylor but the Cavaliers have been monitoring his academic progress according to his uncle, who says he is “definitely in better shape now.”
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Virginia lands 6-10 prospect from Idaho
In men’s basketball, UVa landed one of its most promising prospects in recent years, 6-foot-10 Blake Buchanan from Coeur D Alene, Idaho.
UVa also has received the attention of 6-8, 205-pound Milan Momcilovic from Pewaukee, Wis., who also has offers from UCLA and Michigan State.
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Bonding
After falling short of a third straight appearance in the men’s lacrosse final four, Virginia’s program already is gearing up for 2023 with a recruiting class that is ranked No. 1 in the country by Inside Lacrosse.
On top of that, the Cavaliers have added Thomas McCorvey, the America East player of the year this past season at Vermont, where he had a school record 60 goals and 14 assists. He will be playing with Payton Cormier, a returning 50-goal UVa scorer who was a buddy when they were kids growing up in Canada.
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New leases
Trey Bonham, who transferred to the University of Florida after averaging 13.6 points and playing in 29 of 29 games for VMI last season, will be joining a Gators squad headed by first-year head coach Todd Golden, previously the coach at San Francisco.
Florida has transfers from Michigan, Penn State, Boston College, LSU, St. Bonaventure and Belmont.
Ethan O’Donnell, who started in 46 of 47 baseball games for Northwestern this past season, has transferred to UVa. O’Donnell, who is from Highlands Ranch, Colo., started in 46 of 47 games at Northwestern and batted .320.
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Cavalier moves
Ex-Virginia standout Malcolm Brogdon has joined his third NBA team, the Boston Celtics, and his former Cavalier teammate, Anthony Gill, has been signed to a second stint with the Washington Wizards. Brogdon also has spent time with Indiana and Milwaukee, where he was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2016.
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Cardoza out at Temple
Former UVa basketball player Tonya Cardoza is out after 14 seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Temple, where she had a record of 251-188. Her successor, Diane Richardson, most recently was the head coach at Towson after stints at West Virginia and Maryland.
Cardoza was one of eight players from UVa on the ACC’s 50th anniversary women’s basketball team.