The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - ACC Kickoff - News, Notes, Golden Nuggets; What Did Coach Elliott Discuss In Charlotte?

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: ACC Kickoff – News, Notes, Golden Nuggets What Did Coach Elliott Discuss In Charlotte? How Does UVA Football Team Look Right Now? UVA Starting QB Undecided, Could Both Play? Chris Tyree Fastest Tony Elliott Has Ever Seen ACC Football Teams To Watch + Underdogs Tony Bennett Making Big Recruiting In-Roads Hoos In The Olympics – UVA On Fire In Paris Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Tuesday morning, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. We appreciate your patience as we encountered a little bit of technical difficulties this morning, but Judah Wickauer, our producer, has figured those out, and we have quite a bit of content to cover on today's edition of the show. Hootie Ratcliffe, star of our program, at the ACC kickoff, and a lot of storylines, a lot of news, a lot of notes, and a lot of golden nuggets from kickoff. Of course, the quarterback play is a topic that all Virginia fans are discussing right now. Who's the guy? Who is the guy to lead this football team in what is

a critical year for the fan base, the coaching staff, and the players? More storylines besides just quarterback play. Tony Elliott alluded that he may have the fastest athlete he has ever seen on the gridiron on his roster today. We'll tell you who that is, and we will discuss how this young man could be a playmaker, not just at wide receiver, but within the special teams units as well. We'll talk the teams to watch. We'll talk underdogs. We'll make some predictions on the program.

We'll talk Wahoos in the Olympics and Tony Bennett making big-time inroads on the hardwood when it comes to recruiting Judah Woodcower is our director if you can go to the studio camera a two shot and a one shot and welcome Hootie Ratcliffe the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer the multi-time award-winning writer and the namesake of jerryratcliffe.com kickoff what number kickoff was this for you how many have you been to? I think, let's see, at another newspaper, I went a couple of years when I was in Greensboro in the late 70s, early 80s, and then I've been to every one since 82, since I've been in Charlottesville. So how many of that racks up to be? Probably like 45 or something.

But it used to be held all over the South, and now it's the last, I think since 2015 or 16, something like that, it's been in Charlotte every year. So everything seems to be in Charlotte all the time now which isn't quite as much fun used to be a golf event you could play with the coaches and bowl people and have a couple of cold pops with the coaches afterwards yeah yeah it was it was a good way to you know get to know the coaches on a different level. Having played with so many guys and some of the commissioners and some great bowl people.

Played with Bobby Bowden, Ralph Regan, Tom O'Brien, Frank Beamer. So many coaches I've played with. Let's see, you rattled off a legendary Boston College head coach there, a legendary Virginia Tech head coach, a legendary Maryland head coach, of course the godfather, the Florida State head coach. Of all the coaches, the best golfer you have ever seen,

all the football coaches you've played with? Of the ones I've played with was Frank Beamer. Really? He was pretty good. What are we talking, scratch? I wouldn't go that far, but he could hold his own. He was pretty good. He wasn't quite on the level of Spurrier and a couple of those other guys that could play, but he was good. He slowed down a little bit now, could play, but he was good. He slowed down a little bit now, I think, but he was really good.

What was Frank Beamer's game like? Long off the tee, short game, great with the putter? I would say good ball striker. It wasn't enormously long off the tee, but he was accurate. And I think that was probably the reason he didn't make many mistakes. There you go. Kind of like his football coaching. Maybe the toughest question I've asked you here.

The worst golfer you've ever seen or played with. That I've played with. Oh, wow. From a coaching standpoint. From the coaching standpoint, probably oh gosh, trying to think of his name now. I can't believe I can't think of his name. The guy went on to coaching

the NFL. He's from Wake Forest. He would request that we play together uh jim grobe no jim grobe was pretty good uh he was before jim grobe and um went on and coached with the colts and the lions head coach of the lions why can't i think of his name um jim caldwell okay um wasn't a good golfer but he was a head coach of the lions yeah head coach of the lions yeah uh we hit it off really well he wasn't a particularly good golfer but he liked to play and but he was fun to play with and we got along and and he would request that i'd be his partner every year at the event because we had such a good time together.

It wasn't a very good golf run. What's a Caldwell shoot? Are we talking like 100? 110? Are you picking up some balls to finish the hole? Is that what we're doing? Yeah, probably so. The ACC kickoff golf event was

always a scramble. So you never really knew exactly what somebody was shooting. But probably would have shot in the triple digits somewhere. So he's out there having fun. A lot of us can relate to that. How about this question? The best player you have seen, football player on the golf course, or athlete in general? Because this man's extremely passionate

about golf. Who do you reckon? Well, I played with Danny Connell. He was pretty good. Quarterback, Florida State? Yeah, I played with him. I don't think anybody else that I played with was of his caliber. Ted Roof, who I played with as head coach at Duke, but I first met him at the kickoff when he was playing for Georgia Tech, and we were teamed together.

And he was pretty good. Bobby Bowden was one of the most fun guys to play with. Very interesting guy. Good golfer. And Ralph Regan was probably the most intense. Really? He would get a little hacked off if somebody missed a shot. But it's been fun playing with a lot of those guys over the years.

How about Ted Roof, guys? If memory serves correct, a linebacker for the Ramblin' Rack of Georgia Tech. Your good memory. Former Duke head coach. You also highlighted Canal, obviously a quarterback with Florida State.

Was he in the red? Was he a scratch golfer? He wasn't scratched, but he could hold his own. So we're talking single digit? Probably shooting. Yeah, probably could break 80 most of the time.

Chris Winkie was pretty good. Yeah, quarterback for Florida State? Yeah, played with a few Florida State quarterbacks. I don't know how that ever happened, but it did. Sometimes you get matched with a player. Didn't always happen, but every now and then you would. The best and worst Virginia UVA.

I don't think I ever played with a Virginia kid in this event. Even not at the kickoff, in general, any time you played. Because you played with a lot of them. You play with the Barber Twins. I did. I played with Rondé, and to be fair to him, that was only his second round of golf. Was this at Wintergreen? This was at Lake Monticello.

Okay. It was an 100-hole event, so we played all day. I hope you had a golf cart. We did have a golf cart we did have a okay um he's a much much better golfer now he's he's a pretty good athlete and then golf became a passion of his so he's he's a much better golfer now than he was back in those days i think he might be the only uva player who was a player at the time that I've played with. Marco Ivarone I've played with, but he was already out of school.

He was a pretty good golfer. NBA coach. Yeah, and NBA world champion. Yeah. I don't think I've played with any other Virginia guys. No coaches? I don't think any of the Virginia coaches ever played. Al Groh didn't.

I think he played in the event one year, but that was it. George didn't play at all. You offered, in fact, to offer some tutorial sessions to the late, great George Welsh. I did. I always thought that would be a good hobby for him because he's a good athlete. I think he played baseball, and he was a Heisman finalist as quarterback at Navy. So I thought he had some promises of a potential golfer to give him something to do in the offseason, but I never could convince him.

And then many years later after he retired, he said he wished he had taken my advice and learned how to play. But I tried to help him, but he just didn't want to do it. I see Coach Tony Bennett from time to time. Tony Bennett is a very good golfer. The par three at the Borsad. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure he plays the big course too. And he plays at Farmington from time to time. Obviously, after he won the national championship in 2019,

one of his requests was to play Augusta, him and his dad, and that happened. Some people got him on, and I don't know what he shot, but I think he played pretty well. He's a good golfer. He probably wouldn't want me to tell this, and I probably shouldn't, but when I played the recently added or renovated short course at Farmington a few years ago, right after they had opened it, I got through playing and the pro came up and asked me if I set the course record, and I didn't. I played well. I played with Bowen Sargent and Mike Guthrie. That's Mike Guthrie's stomping grounds over there. Yeah, and I played well that day. I mean, every putt I looked at,

which led Bowen Sargent to nickname me the best putter in Charlottesville, which is not true. That's high praise from a coach. Yeah. But when we got through, the pro asked me that, and I said no, but I played well. He said, you know who holds the record here on the short course? And I said no, and he said Tony Bennett.

Wow. So Tony can play. He's a good athlete. I would imagine just about anything competitive he's going to excel at. His table tennis game is a game to be feared. Yeah, he's a demon at the ping pong table. Yeah, table tennis, and you see it in the Olympics now. Yeah, and he's a good tennis player.

He can still shoot three, so he can do it all. Viewers and listeners, I love reminiscing with Hootie Ratcliffe here. A lot to cover from kickoff. Why don't we start with an open-ended for you to offer some commentary, any topic you want to go on ACC kickoff, and then I'll ask some more pointed questions. Talk to us about what you saw and what stood out to you. Well, I thought the main thing was that the commissioner, Jim Phillips, was a little more outspoken than he normally is.

He's fired up. I thought it was about time. I thought it was way overdue for him to have some harsh words for Florida State and Clemson in their attempt to bail out of the league. He called it a disruption and a distraction, and it was hurting the league. About darn time. Yeah, he was absolutely accurate. And, again, I thought he had been kind of a milquetoast guy up until then,

so I was glad to see him show some brass in doing that. I think he probably earned a little more respect by being critical. And I think the deadline is either come and gone or rapidly approaching, and Florida State Clemson, neither one has filed a leave. So they're going to stick around for at least one more year. I don't know where they would go if they did get out of their grant of rights contract with the ACC because the SEC doesn't want them, at least allegedly doesn't want them. Big Ten allegedly doesn't want them. So the only other place for them to

go is the Big 12 and why would you go there when they get less revenue than the ACC does? Doesn't make any sense. He not only, this is what stood out to me, he not only went after Clemson

and Florida State, but he had the back of John Swofford. He did. Because Swofford's got a little link with, you know, if you want to, you know more about this than I do, set the stage with his son, who's in broadcasting. Was he what, Raycon? Yes. You want to set the table for us? Well, I don't know much about that part of it.

I think I missed that, actually. You may know more about that than I do. But I know that Swofford had come under some criticism for the original grant of rights package, but I thought it was a stroke of genius at the time to keep the league together because there were serious rumors about the ACC crumbling apart at that point. And I thought he did everything he could to save the league. And I admire him for what he did. I don't think criticism of him is warranted at all.

Swofford is the former commissioner right before Phillips. Phillips is leading the league at a time of hardship, tumultuous time for the conference right now, with two of its premier partners, Clemson and Florida State, looking to leave the conference for, frankly, more money. And the ACC, rightfully so, is saying that's not going to happen. So time will tell. This isn't the last we're going to hear about this,

but it was certainly a topic of conversation during ACC kickoff. Tony Elliott highlighted a couple things that I want to bring to your attention. Maybe Chris Tyree, the fastest player he's ever seen in football. The quarterback topic has come up. Still no undisputed or clear-cut gunslinger

for this football team. Open-ended when it came to Virginia and the storylines we should discuss. Yeah, I think that was my biggest question going into the kickoff was how Tony Elliott would handle the quarterback race in training camp because last year we were told it was neck and neck and it must go obviously won out in that competition and started the season got hurt in the first game against Tennessee learned that Tony Elliott's philosophy is that you don't lose your starting job because you're injured so when you come back, you automatically get it back.

We didn't know if that would be the case since he was the starter last year, if that would carry over, and he would automatically be the starter, or if it would be an open competition. We learned that it is going to be an open competition throughout the training camp, which opens tomorrow, by the way. And we'll have full coverage of that and their practices throughout training camp at jerryrackliff.com. And we'll have updates on here weekly as well. But I would not be surprised, and we talked about this before, that we may not know who the starter is going to be until game week

against Richmond at the end of the month. And he was even asked if there was a possibility he could use both quarterbacks, and he said nothing's off the table. So it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out. Normally, coaches don't want to use two quarterbacks in the same game unless one guy's just struggling to move the chain, or if there's an injury, obviously. But it's a possibility we may see both those guys against Richmond.

Is it the path you want to see pursued? Granted, Richmond may be the easiest game on the schedule, so if you're going to try something out, maybe you do it against the Spiders, certainly at home. Calandria, the fan base, I would imagine that's the fan base's pick, Calandria. Yeah, if it was a popular vote, I'm sure it would yeah if it was a popular vote it's a popular vote it would be that um some folks say if you have two quarterbacks playing and if it's a quarterback by committee then you don't have a quarterback i've heard that philosophy and i think that's generally been true over time i have seen it work for certain schools and certain programs. It's worked at Clemson

where Coach Elliott was in the past? Yeah, he's done some of that. It's worked at quite a few places. And sometimes a coach just can't determine who that guy is. Even Nick Saban a couple of times had to switch quarterbacks two or three times early in the season before somebody finally played their way in or out of that position. So, you know, both guys have strengths. in or out of that position. Both guys have strengths. Elliott is convinced that he can win with either quarterback. Maybe that's the only way to keep the fan base happy and keep both quarterbacks happy is to play both guys.

We'll see how that goes. Was there a promise made to Calandria to stay in the program in playing time? Because Calandria after his freshman year, after his first year had recruiters, had suitors. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know

that we'll ever know. I do know that he wasn't going to leave. Money was not an enticement, I don't think, for him because he comes from a family that's well off, so I don't think money was an issue, although I do think he was given a nice NIL package anyways. But as far as playing time goes, I don't know.

I don't know that we'll ever know that. Calandria, guys, a rising second year with upside. Musket, more of a game manager. This is the talk of the fan base right now, whether on the message boards, whether at the water cooler, whether at the watering hole, over the dinner table, on jerryrackliff.com. Anyone ask, pointed to Tony Elliott, who the guy is or who the leader is right now? Who has the edge right now?

Yeah, and he said it was, at least he said it was a toss-up at this point. So I don't know if he would tell us, and I'm sure he knows, but we've heard rumors that Muscat is ahead, but we haven't had any confirmation of that, so he may just want to keep it close to the vest and keep these guys sharp so they can push each other and improve, continue to improve through August. One of the guys that certainly is going to help either quarterback out is Chris Tyree. And I'm on jerryracliff.com, the lead headline in the football section,

Elliott on Tyree, fastest I've ever been around. Good night. And we know some of the talent. He was around at Clemson for more than a decade oh my gosh that that speaks volumes i mean tyree uh who's from thomas dale high school in chester was um uh he's at a world-class level in terms of speed. He calls himself the Jet, so I imagine that nickname will stick. And he couldn't take Rocket because that was already used up at Notre Dame by Rocket Ishmael.

But he and the Rocket and Tim Brown are the only three guys in Notre Dame history who have scored a touchdown, rushing, receiving, punt returning, kick returning. So that gives you some idea. There's a nice little video of him returning an 82-yard kick for a touchdown at Notre Dame last year. I think they were playing Wisconsin. I'm not sure.

But in that story on my website uh oh yeah julius jones thomas jones little brother was the other one to do that at notre dame uh but you know he um he had uh over a thousand yards in kick return yardage uh over over 3 000 total or all-purpose yards at notre during his notre dame career so uh the guy is just fast i mean we haven't seen him timed but tony elliott said if he pursued track he might be good enough to be running right now in Paris. He called it world-class speed. Yeah. I mean, world-class speed here.

Yeah, that's Olympic speed. That's Olympic speed. So this is a guy you've got to get the ball in many different scenarios. Yeah, and I asked Tyree back in the spring if he could foresee a Debo Samuel- type role with the 49ers with Virginia, where he could line up anywhere on the field, run the ball, or be a receiver. And he said, yeah, I think that's in the plan. I think they're going to have to. Yeah, and I mean, you don't want this guy to come off the field if he doesn't have to.

The question is, how involved is he in special teams? Well, he may be returning punts and kickoffs. So that's pretty involved. So you get a guy that's maybe looking 20-plus touches a game, backfield, pass catching, punt returning, kick returning. You may be looking at your potential X factor here on the roster. Yeah, and as a matter of fact, in the ACC preseason polling of not only the teams, but they ask you to name an all-ACC preseason team, and I voted for him not only as an all-ACC receiver, but as a specialist returner.

So I think he's that good. That's a guy we certainly got to watch. He's got an impact he's going to make, the local boy here in Charlottesville. He's a guy that I would think Musket and Calandra certainly are going to focus on, the football team, the coaching staff are going to focus on. How about other playmakers on the roster we should watch out for? Do we go Pace?

Do we go the kid from Monticello's that's also a wide receiver? I think this could be a breakout year for Malachi Fields. He's been on the verge of having just spectacular seasons. I think he got a little banged up last year, but he had a pretty nice season considering that. And he took a little pressure off of Malik Washington last year because people were doing everything they could to stop him and still couldn't.

When Malachi was healthy and on, that took a lot of pressure off. They needed a third guy that never really developed. But I think this year he could be one of the big keys on offense. And then Andre Green, who transferred from North Carolina, another Virginia boy from eastern Virginia, I think he has a lot of potential. And they have some other guys in that receiving core who are pretty darn good. And then Kobe Pace at running back, Keith Gaither, the running back's coach, says he thinks Pace is as good as any back in the ACC. And we'll see.

We haven't seen that yet. Certainly he started some at Clemson before he got hurt two years ago. But if they can, one of the big storylines that I asked in Charlotte and again here at sort of a media day function Friday, this past Friday, was the offensive line. If they can do their job, then this offense has great potential. But neither quarterback is going to be able to be nearly as effective and neither is Pace or any other running back

unless this offensive line can come together. And I asked Tony how critical it is for that to happen. And he said that's priority one going into camp is to make sure that this offensive line develops. And I sat down with the offensive line coach, Terry Hefferman, and he's got a lot of faith. He believes these guys have made some big strides in the offseason, and we'll get it done. That's the priority one, priority two, priority three, the offensive line with this football team.

Of the two quarterbacks, if offensive line is a point of concern and the quarterbacks are going to have to play out of the pocket on the run for, you know, just to keep themselves healthy, which of the two is best suited for that? Without a doubt, it's Calandria. He moves better outside the pocket. Not that Musket can't, but Calandria... He's plus at that.

Yeah. In fact, some of his numbers last year... Were better. He was better throwing on the run than he was out of the pocket. And he's not bad in the pocket. But Musket is more of a pocket guy who can run if he has to. But I think he'd prefer not to if he doesn't have to. Calandria is a guy that is not the tallest.

So sometimes playing out of the pocket might offer him better sight lines downfield. This is true. We'll follow it closely. How did the rest of the media in the conference look at Virginia football? What was the level of respect or preseason prediction for this football team? Well, you didn't get as much flavor for that this time around because, again, the mass media wasn't there like it was in the past when you got to talk to a lot more people over a two-day period uh now it's spread out over four

and so a lot of people you normally run into you just weren't there they would were there another day so didn't really get a a gauge on that this time around like I normally would. But I think because Virginia has won three games two years in a row, and I think I'm just guessing, not having anything to really go on. But I think the ACC media as probably as a whole probably pretty still down on Virginia and show me show me that you can do better than three wins so I expect that their pre-season prediction in the poll that may come out later today, I'm not sure. But I imagine it will be pretty far down the list out of 17 schools.

How about the program in Blacksburg? What's the buzz with Virginia Tech? Tech was there the same day as Virginia, so it did run into some people who cover Tech. They're pretty high on them. I think they're predicted in the top five by most people. Some people as high as number three. And with good reason. They have a lot of talent returning.

They do. Drone is a quarterback that people are going to have trouble dealing with. They've got a good running back. They've got a good running back. They've got a decent offensive line. They've got a good defense. They didn't lose a lot of people. So they're going to be, at least the expectations are, they should be a force to be dealt with.

Did anything change for you in regards to Elliott's program after kickoff? Are we still seeing potential success if they can flirt with that five win, six win marker? The one thing that I didn't know that I learned

during all this past week was that I probably gained a little more faith in their work with special teams, which was disastrous last year. I wasn't sure. I know they said that they were making it a point of emphasis and wanted to improve. I wasn't sure how that was going to happen

until I delved into it a little bit more, talking to Keith Gaither, who's running back's coach and special teams coach. They visited numerous NFL teams in the offseason. I don't know if they visited any other college programs or not. Maybe they did. Keith admitted that he had never been a running backs coach until he came here. I don't know how much special teams knowledge he had until he came here. He said

a whole new world of special teams knowledge opened up to him on some of these visits. He learned things that he didn't even know existed in terms of special teams coaching and strategies and et cetera. So I have a feeling that that alone is going to help tremendously. And I think more coaches are involved in those duties this year, responsibilities. So I don't think that's going to be a weakness like it has been.

That's good, because that was one of the points of tremendous concern last year. How about some defensive commentary for us? I think the defense should be greatly improved over last year if it a deep some defensive commentary for us uh i think the defense should be greatly improved over last year if it can stay healthy and maybe even if it doesn't because last year they had so many guys that went down so many experienced guys that went down and they didn't have any proven depth behind those guys but because they did have to play a lot of freshmen who they had to just kind of throw into the fire even whether they were ready or not those guys picked up a lot of valuable

experience and i think that's going to add greatly to the depth this year and if they can stay healthy they'll be able to run some bodies in and out of the lineup and maybe won't get so worn down like they have in the past. This question's come in for you. Is Chris Ty Reed the best player on the roster? How about I'll add some color to that question. Most pro upside on the roster. I would say so, at least on the offensive side of the ball.

There's a couple of defensive guys that definitely have some NFL potential, like Jonas Sanker. He's rated as one of the top safeties in the country. But yeah, I think Tyree, without question is the most upside of of anybody on offense in terms of moving on to the next level he's the one i'm most excited to watch this year we'll see if they can get him in this uh athlete type role where he's getting as many touches as possible um because if someone like tyree can line up in the slot, can line up in the backfield, can take some screen passes, can maybe make some magic happen on special teams, then you take a unit with offense where the offensive line is the point of concern and you can kind of disguise deficiencies. Yeah, and remember that at Notre Dame, before he turned most of his attention to wide receiver last year, he was a running back.

Right. And so I think it would be wise and extremely exciting for fans if he is in a Debo Samuel-type role to where you don't know where he's going to line up. He could be split wide. He could be in the slot. He could be in the backfield. Could be a lot of fun. We'll follow it closely, guys. We'll follow it very closely. JerryRackliff.com for all the news and notes. We've got to talk basketball. I'm on the website

right now. You talk recruiting update. UVA in the top 10 for some big-time athletes here, Hootie. Yeah, and, you know, and that has even advanced since that story was put up. One guy, London Jemison, a 6'8 forward from Oakdale, Connecticut, has last night announced his top six, and Virginia is on that list. Number 58 overall prospect in the country in the class of 25 and the number two player in the state of Connecticut, which makes me wonder why Danny Early is not after him. But anyway, his final six that he announced last night is Virginia, Kansas, Alabama, Syracuse, Louisville, and Vanderbilt and he has already set a visit here to Charlottesville September 27th, 29th there's going to be a lot of players visiting

making official visits to UVA in September some of the top players in the country another guy Derek Dixon, another four-star from 25, will be cutting his list of schools down to six tomorrow, or actually today. And I think Virginia is probably going to be on that list. We'll see. But that's another potential four-star guy. And then I think three of the guys that they're after the most,

I don't know if I have that list with me, but it certainly is Chance Mallory, the Amen kid from Warrington, and another kid whose name escapes me at the moment. But I think some other have are in that story that have announced their that virginia is not on their final list so we're starting to get down towards the nitty-gritty and i think a lot of those visits are going to be made in September, and the early signing date is in November. So we won't have long to wait on a lot of these guys.

I'm jerryratcliffe.com for the news. The St. Ann's Belfield youngster, Mallory, the point guard that is cat-like quick, is the one we're all following, with it being our backyard here. He's the toast of a lot of programs, though. Yeah, he is. I mean, there's a lot of big-time schools after him.

And, you know, to Tony Bennett's credit, they've offered some other point guards, too, I guess as a backup. Just in case he decides not, you know, a lot of times a kid may have an affection for their hometown school and grew up being a fan of that school, but sometimes it backfires on him because the kid wants to get out of town and he wants to see something new, get a new environment. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens with Mallory in that respect? Another kid that announced his ten finalists last Sunday is Cam Ward. Yep, that's on your website. The 6'7", four-star guy, the 48th composite player nationally, and ten schools is a lot,

but it's Virginia, Alabama, Michigan State, Maryland, Florida State, Notre Dame, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Marquette, and Vanderbilt. Six, seven, four star. Yeah, and he's legit. I mean, he's a really good player, and I thought it was interesting. It seemed like everything that he listed as far as what he wants in a program sounded like he was reading off a tony bennett recruiting manual because he wants he wants a school with a winning culture that has a family aspect and and values relationships he wants a coach that cares for you outside of basketball.

I mean, who does that better than Tony Bennett? He wants a place with good academics and a place that develops guys. Well, I mean, my gosh. I mean, you look that up in the dictionary and it says Virginia. You can ask some of the guys that are there now about all those aspects. So I think he needs to make a visit here and take a closer look. I pointed out that Sam Houser recently signed a $40 million contract re-upping with the Celtics. He's the fourth former UVA player to get an NBA contract worth that or more.

So what do we got? The fourth, we got Hunter, got Malcolm Brogdon, got Sam Houser. Who's the other one? I'm trying to think of who the other one is. Trey Murphy? Yeah, Trey Murphy. Okay. And none of those guys were top 50 high school prospects,

so that shows you how Tony Bennett's program, which is known as the developmental program, can help a guy take his game to the next level. And I also like that sample pool because you've got two guys recruited to the program out of high school, Hunter and Brogdon, and you've got two guys that entered the program from the transfer portal. Yeah, and we're only here one year. Right. And made some great strides.

So you can point to both. We can do the portal or we can take you out of high school and develop you. And, you know, all four guys have something pretty good in common. They all can shoot the long ball. This is true. And, of course, Joe Harris, I guess, is not around any longer, but I imagine he had a pretty nice contract too. And he could shoot the long ball as good as anybody.

What's Harris doing these days? I don't know. I haven't seen any updates on him lately. I might have to look that up and try to figure out where he is. Some of the UVA guys were back in Charlottesville this past week. I know Diakite

was here. Guy was here. Kyle Guy was here. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kyle Guy end up as a coach someday because he just seems to have that ability to communicate well with players and teach the game and has such a likable personality. I think he could be an effective coach. Kyle Guy still chasing the dream in Europe as we speak.

Yeah, making good money. Making good money. He's got a wife. He's we speak. Yeah, making good money. Making good money. He's got a wife. He's got children. He's got a family. How about the Jeff Jones reunion? Yeah, I should have. I told myself last night I should have asked Jeff to come on the show today

and talk about that reunion because I know he would have. They have a reunion, I think, every year, but this one, I think, was special for some particular reason. All the guys from that 95 team, I guess, went down to Jeff's house in, I guess, somewhere around Norfolk. I don't know exactly where he lives down there. How's his health? I think it's somewhere around Norfolk. I don't know exactly where he lives down there. How's his health? I think it's good.

The last time I talked to Danielle, his wife, she said he was doing well, and that's been a few months. But he looked really good in the photo that I saw on Twitter last night of him, and that's a very close basketball team. that I saw on Twitter last night of him. That's a very close basketball team. I see Corey a lot, Corey Alexander, obviously because he's doing games. He's a color commentator for the ACC Network. Yeah, I run into Junior Burrow every now and then. And they always talk about how they are all on the same Facebook page or something.

They're always communicating. They have a text group that they group text each other a lot. So that is a particularly close basketball team. Williford in that picture? Yeah, Jason. Jason's in that picture. And Jason also talks about that, the relationship, close relationship those guys still have.

It was one of the best Virginia basketball teams ever. I mean, if you go back to when Jeff Jones recruited that group, the bulk of that group, they were the number two recruiting class in the country behind the Fab Five of Michigan. So they had some talent on that squad, and they came within a hairbreadth of making it to the Final Four against the loss to Arkansas's 40 minutes of hell just because Corey was out,

and I think Harold Dean was just worn out because the bulk of the action was on him, and certainly going up against Arkansas, that was not an easy task because they pressured you from wire to wire. Yeah, baseline to baseline. That was Coach Richardson's, one of his best teams. Yes, it was. With the Razorbacks. What are you working on with JerryRackliff.com?

What's in the hopper? Well, we're going to be. Can't wait for football. We're going to be, yeah. We'll be there tomorrow for the first practice. And I have a story in the hopper about the offensive line going into great detail with Coach Elliott and Coach Hefferman about just how valuable that is. And where do all those guys stand and just a really in-depth look at the offensive line.

A little bit about special teams. We have a nice story up this morning about Lauren Coughlin, the Virginia golfer who, at age 31, never gave up her dream and yesterday, or excuse me, Sunday, won essentially the Women's Canadian Open, which used to be a major, and players still consider it a major. And she played really great and closed it out. And I'm so happy for her. I've gotten to know her.

Her husband, John Pond, a former UVA football player, is one of her. She's kind of a part-time caddy, but somehow she convinced Jerry McNamara. McNamara? I'm not sure McNamara's the right name. Who used to be Annika Sorensen's caddy for all those great years she played. She's come out of semi-retirement and carried her bag some this season, and I think that's helped her a lot as well. So a nice little story there. She comes here every year and works with the First Tee program,

which is heartwarming to see that. That's near and dear to your heart. Yeah. It was just, you know, she has an affection for that group. She was in the First Tee Program when she was a young kid. We'll keep up with basketball recruiting, and, again, hopefully the ACC football poll will be out sometime today. And we've got bukus of football story. It's like drinking out of a fire hose pretty soon.

I can't wait to read the scatter shooting, the golden nuggets, and the commentary. JerryRackliff.com. I'm on the website literally multiple times every day. One of the first websites I visit every morning. Oh, and we'll be keeping up with all the Wahoos in the Olympics too. The kid out from Mountain Crozet did something. Made it to the semis today. 5 a.m. start.

I think he's swimming today at 2.30 p.m. I think that's right. In the. Yeah. 5 a.m. start. I think he's swimming today at 2.30 p.m. I think that's right. In the, what, the 100-200 breaststroke? Mm-hmm. You talk about a challenging swimming event, and you talk about a teenager in the Olympics, a kid committed to UVA. I mean, that's... It's amazing. It's amazing.

At this point, when I was his age, going into my first year at UVA, I was into some tomfoolery and things I shouldn't have been. This guy's chasing a gold medal. It's absolutely amazing. We were all into the tomfoolery. This guy's into gold medal. Chances to win a gold medal. Absolutely amazing. Just a completely different type of mindset and maturity for a kid like that.

Judah Wickower, we appreciate you getting us back online. Thank you kindly for that. He's a wizard. He was working two different computers and his phone to figure it out. While you and I are talking about some of the stuff we love to talk about. Exactly. That's fantastic. He is not about Tom Fuller. No, he is not about Tom Fuller.

14 years he's been over here. He's a good man. Jerry Ratcliffe of jerryratcliffe.com. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera. My name is Jerry Miller. It's the Jerry and Jerry Show. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Thank you.