The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Men's Hoops Transfer Portal News & Notes; No Commitments In Transfer Portal... Why?

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Men’s Hoops Transfer Portal News & Notes No Commitments In Transfer Portal… Why? Concerned Hoos Have So Many Holes To Fill? Miami Dolphins Pick Malik Washington (6th RD) UVA Football Recruiting Gaining Momentum Muskett vs Colandrea: Hoo Will Be The Starter? UVA Baseball – How Do Cavs Stack-Up In ACC? Virginia Men’s Lax – ACC Tourney Starts Friday 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. Live in downtown Charlottesville, Hop, Skip, and a Junk from the University of Virginia, a program that covers all Wahoo athletics, covers the Atlantic Coast Conference, and college sports across the board. We'll talk pro football today as well. Malik Washington, a six-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins. His future is bright.

I think he's just scratching the surface with his pro potential. I'll ask Jerry Hootie-Rackliff, the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, about Malik Washington and what his thoughts were with the Miami Dolphins. Taking a guy that's pretty darn versatile on the football field, guys. We'll talk basketball. In fact, that's what we're going to lead with. The transfer portal, unfortunately, crickets and silence from a commitment standpoint for Tony Bennett's basketball team.

The only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference without a transfer portal commitment, the one right here in Charlottesville. And of course, we'll talk Tony Elliott and college football as we head from spring football into the dog days of summer, all eyes under center with Anthony Calandria and Tony Musket, both fellas looking pretty healthy and capable right now for a Virginia football team that has some bright spots but could go as far as that offensive line goes um on the gridiron

we'll talk about that all those storylines and more judah wickauer the director and producer judah if you can go to the studio camera and then a two shot to welcome the star of the show jerry hoody rackliff my friend one day removed from may in 2024 yeah Yeah, April seemed to fly by, didn't it? But yeah, it's somewhat surprising that Virginia hasn't been able to land anyone in the portal. I think you hit upon something when you mentioned a lot of negative recruiting. And a lot of the coaches out there going after the same players as virginia probably didn't have to negative recruit as hard as they might have wanted to do because the national media did it for them during the before the tournament

started and during the tournament and after the tournament, just continued to rip Virginia's lackluster offense. And I think that gave a lot of rival coaches all the ammunition they needed if they were going up Virginia for recruiting in high school situations or the transfer portal. And it's something that Tony Bennettony bennett's gonna have to take a some kind of a fire extinguisher to try to put out a little little fires all over the place um virginia fans let us know your thoughts on the transfer portal put them on the social media platform you're watching this show upon and will we relay it live on air? The old ball coach watching on your Twitter account,

he highlights Coach Tony Bennett had a get-out-of-jail pass with the 2019 National Championship, the championship the Hoos won. But the old ball coach says if he does not sign St. Anne's Belfield star Chance Mallory like Mox was able to get with the St. Anne's star Mo, then how will this haul pass, how long will it last for? Chance Mallory is the talk of Charlottesville. I will highlight with Chance Mallory, he's got significant upside, hell of a point guard,

hell of a scorer, finishes around the rim. Not the tallest guy on the hardwood, Chance Mallory, but he is a local fella. Yeah, I think he's 5'9", is that correct? Yeah. Yeah, he's a terrific player, and a lot of really big-time programs are after him. You would think Virginia would be favored to get a hometown guy, but sometimes that works against you because I've seen this happen in various sports throughout my career, is that a lot of kids don't want to sign away from home for whatever reason and experience a new city, a new situation, a new.

Very understandable. You know, and it happens a lot. Yeah. So I don't think that's a given that he's going to come to Virginia for those very reasons. I don't think it's anything against Virginia, but I don't think that makes or breaks Virginia's basketball program, but he certainly

would be a great guy to have in the fold, no question about it. The only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference without a transfer portal commitment. What's going on here? I think it's a combination of things i think uh at least one occasion um one of the players credits did not transfer uh uva didn't accept some of his credits and he signed uh apparently with or it's going to sign with Wisconsin. That was the Amos kid that I'm pretty sure he visited, 6'8", forward from northern Illinois.

And then I think in a couple of instances, guys got swept away by NIL, and it's not to say that Virginia didn't offer them an attractive package. I think they just probably were given maybe a better package somewhere else. And even though Virginia has a, I'm told, has a pretty good NIL going for it now, that they've gotten more people and more money involved they're not going to get into bidding wars for players it's just not their style and you know I just think that that's part of it and and And in the case of the Mahaney kid, the really good guard from St. Mary's who committed to UConn, I mean, that's pretty much a no-brainer.

If you're a guy who can score. This could be a Cam Spencer clone. My wife's a UConn graduate. She's watching the program right here. Cam Spencer, what, played at Rutgers, started at UMBC, Maryland, Baltimore County, transferred into UConn, won a national championship, and was one of the key components for Dan Hurley's team

getting a repeat championship. Exactly. And, you know, who wouldn't want to go play for the two-time national champions? The hottest team in basketball. You and I were talking about it off the air. Danny Hurley has done an incredible job building that program, and he looks like a genius,

the way he's constructed that program and everything around it. And you talk about NIL, they have one of the best nils around and um i mean gosh he could be building a dynasty up there i mean nobody's been able to stop them in two years and they're reloading big time in the portal they've they've gotten some really good players through the portal in the last week and a half. And who knows? I would imagine they'd be the favorites in the country to three-peat. UConn is absolutely, guys, loaded. And you talk about utilizing the portal to your benefit.

Cam Spencer, I mentioned, he was a transfer from Rutgers. He was also a transfer. He started his career, guys, excuse me, at Loyola, Maryland. I called it Baltimore County, Maryland. But he went from there to Rutgers to UConn. Even the star player for UConn last year, Newton, he wore number two. He came from ECU. So Hurley knows the portal, and that's basketball now. Virginia, I'll highlight this again before I get to the comments I see coming on,

and I'm starting to see the panic from the viewers and listeners. The only team in the Atlantic Coast Conference without a portal commitment. Remember, they lost Dante Harris to the portal. They lost Leon Bond to the portal. They're having to replace Ryan Dunn, who's in the NBA draft, Reese Beekman, who's in the NBA draft. Jordan Miner has exhausted his eligibility. Groves has exhausted his eligibility. Tane Murray returns, but he's probably best suited as a bench player. Eli Gertrude returns. Right now he's looking like a potential starter at the three potentially. Christian Bliss, you hope you see leaps and bounds from a redshirt freshman

to looking like he's the potential starting point guard. Isaac McNeely at the two, but you have glaring holes in the front court. Yeah, no question about it. It's not like that they're done in the portal. I mean, there's still, last time I checked, there was over 1,700 people in the portal, so there's still guys there that may not be top 100 uh players in in the portal but they're still uh guys like you mentioned that hurley put on his team from

programs that weren't considered powerhouses and they were still nice pieces that fit into his scheme. And Virginia has, since just yesterday, reached out to another guy in the portal, a guy from San Diego State, a sophomore, 6'8 forward, Elijah Saunders, who averaged six points and started 21 games for the Aztecs last year. He's already heard from like, he just entered the portal yesterday and has already heard from like 10 different schools.

So, you know, there's still plenty of time. I don't think Virginia is probably panicking, but it hasn't worked out like they had hoped it would. Still no word from Trent Perry, the McDonald's All-American point guard. Southern California transfer. As far as we know, Virginia is the only school he's visited and has no other visits planned that has been publicized. He might be going to Gonzaga. I think they have reached out.

But, you know, there's still some guys out there that could. Oh, Trent Perry would be the cherry on the sundae. Oh, no question. Trent Perry would make this conversation have a completely different tone. that could oh trent perry would be the cherry on the sunday oh no question i mean trent perry would make this conversation have a completely different tone virginia's only had a couple of burger boys as they say in in uh in their program history and kyle guy the last one kyle guy is the last one uh he's rated higher than kyle guy was coming out of high school. So he would be the highest ranked guy of the Tony Bennett era, should they be fortunate enough to get him.

There's, you know, it's not like the program, even though they've lost six guys, it's not like the program is bankrupt. They've got, like you mentioned, Christian Bliss, who I thought was a really good recruit last year. And I think, you know, had they needed him, I think he could have played last year. He's that good. And the Robinson kid, he's had a year to mature in the program.

He's 6'10". Can give him a little bit of physicality up front. Jacob Kofi, the 6'9 guy from Seattle, I think is going to be a force inside. Certainly he's got a lot to learn coming right out of high school, but he's a physical kid. I think he's probably somebody that's going to be ready to play as a freshman. And then you've got Sharma, the sharpshooter, Canadian player of the year, national player of the year, who can shoot the eyes out of it. So there's still talent in the program, and I don't think that the roster is settled by any means at this point.

Comments coming in here for you. But, yeah, I think there's been some damage to the program nationally from the aspect of a lack of offensive spark. And a lot of that falls onto Tony Bennett's shoulders. I think he probably has recognized that. I've read that he has mentioned to a couple of high school prospects that he's taking a long look at the offense and how to infuse more firepower into it, maybe some different schemes. I would never tell Tony Bennett what to do,

but if I were him, I would, since he scrimmaged Danny Hurley in Connecticut last year. Before the season. Yeah, I think I'd go spend some time with Danny Hurley and just look at what they're doing offensively. Because I know Hurley, even though they score more than Virginia, they don't play at a breakneck speed pace. But Hurley is kind of an offensive genius

with some of the sets and motions and things that he has put together. And I think it would be beneficial to spend some time with him just to see what they're doing and try to maybe bring a little bit that south. Brian Yagle watching the program, B. Yagle, a good man, knows the Virginia Athletic Department inside and out, a St. Ann's-Belfield graduate himself, played college baseball, Brian Yagle. He has this comment, and I found this curious as well, Brian.

He says, fellas, thoughts on the current UVA lacrosse player who's switching to basketball and going to Stanford. Do we think Tony Bennett spoke to him at all? I'll relay the news from here. His name is Cole Kastner. Cole Kastner is staying in the Atlantic Coast Conference, switching from lacrosse to basketball. He's a 6'7", All-American defenseman, and he said on Wednesday

of last week that he would use his final year of eligibility to transfer to Stanford to play basketball for the 2024- 2025 season. He was a high school basketball standout in Palo Alto. So a lot of folks are not surprised he's going to Stanford,

having grown up there. A three-year starter on the high school basketball team. 17 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 17 double-doubles his senior year. This guy's an animal. 6'7", All-American defenseman. I could not imagine being a Tackman, seeing a six foot seven

guy with a lacrosse stick in his hands yeah yeah i would agree uh i don't know i don't know if tony bennett has spoken to him or not i would i would imagine he probably has um i i just don't know. Once basketball season's over, the media is pretty much cut off from Tony Bennett and some of the programs. So we don't have any interview opportunities unless we go out of our way to do it. But there's no mass press conferences or anything like that to where we can ask questions. So I don't know the answer to that. Renee Pettiford watching the show. She's a diehard UVA fan.

A lot of comments coming in here, Hootie. She has this question. If nothing happens in the transfer portal, if we strike out on Trent Perry, is there an opportunity to return Dante Harris and Leon Bond to the program? I don't think so. I think that door is closed. Usually when a guy leaves, there's no coming back. Particularly here at Virginia, from what I've seen, I think they leave for a reason.

I don't think that. I think Leon Bond was an odd man out. His jump shooting ability was questionable. He was a three. He was a guy that probably could have played the two or the three, but he didn't have a jump shot to play either. Athletic explosive, six foot five, limits you at the three, and his jump shooting keeps him from playing the two Dante Harris curiously if healthy and you and I both wondered how much that high ankle

sprain lingered it impacted his performance this past year a healthy Dante Harris if there's no commitments in the backcourt perhaps could provide some depth. I agree with you. The likelihood of him returning, though, is slim to none. Yeah, the fact that they made it evident that they were looking for another point guard, I'm sure, drove him away. And, you know, Tony has meetings, one-on-one meetings, with these players at the end of the season, and he's realistic with them what his expectations are and and and uh he's honest with them about potential playing time

um you talk about a guy that struggled with a jump shot that was dante harris his his uh shooting percentage was woeful uh as was bonds and as As was Rode's. As was Rode's. And a lot of people were surprised that he decided to return, which I imagine he's going to work hard on his jump shot in the offseason and try to improve that. But I think that the poor shooting was one of the ingredients or whatever that led to Bond and Harris leaving the program. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Trent Perry, the interesting thing about this McDonald's All-America, the Southern California transfer,

if he commits to Virginia, and that's a big if, others would follow. He would be a potential funnel to future talent. People want to play with a point guard of this man's caliber. You would think so. He's almost like a share of the football quarterback. Yeah, exactly. He can score too, but yeah, he is.

He's the kind of guy that can attract other players to your program, particularly out of the portal. Should he make a commitment, it's not too late to grab a couple other good guys who can score out of the portal or some physical guys that can help add to the depth of the front court. So I don't know what he's waiting on. I don't know if he's planning other visits, taking other visits. I would assume that since he was posing for his Virginia Pictures while he officially visited here,

he was posing with a Happy Meal and some McDonald's fries, that there might be some NIL opportunities there that were discussed. Otherwise, I don't know why he would be posing with those items. Unless it's the McDonald's All-American reference. Well, yeah, but still, I don't know why he would pose with that. I mean, I think your point is justified in that Key, A. Clark, and Brennan Armstrong had similar opportunities. Right. And but, yeah, I mean, if he's planning on coming here, he probably needs to go ahead and pull the trigger and and do exactly what you mentioned and trying to help them lure some other players to Charlottesville. Because that's star power and good players want to play with good players.

Matt Hines, your question is coming up. It's on deck. I got a very pointed question for Hootie Ratcliffe first. I personally believe Tony Bennett walks on water. I'm the first guy that says, look, this guy takes a couple of loaves of bread and a few fishes and feeds the hundreds. Right.

And he should have his name on the court. I always push back when someone says that the game has passed him or he's not adapting his philosophy to today's basketball. I think that's ludicrous. I will ask you this question. The brand recognition and the brand equity and the brand appeal that came with the 2019 national championship, that's been chiseled away. And the loss to Colorado State in the play in game was even more humiliating because it happened prior to the tournament, which gave

the national media even more runway to talk about it because they needed storylines to cover prior to the tournament starting. Here's the pointed question. Is the brand that is Virginia basketball as in a challenging position right now as you've seen it in the Tony Bennett era? Yeah, I think you made some great points there, and I agree with all of them. And, yes, I think the brand has been damaged in their postseason play. And national media kept hammering away at Virginia all year this past year

because of the lack of offensive capabilities. And even though that's something that Virginia's not known for, and they've been a low-scoring team primarily throughout his tenure here, except for that 2019 team, which scored a lot of points and had a lot of offensive firepower. I think the brand has been tainted a little bit because it came under such criticism from national media. And like you said, because it was one of the first games of the entire tournament

in the first four, it gave people a lot of latitude to go after what they were saying that Virginia didn't belong in the tournament to begin with. Some of the national media called heat from Virginia fans for that, but that was their reply was, okay, we told you so, and now we're going to make that a solid point throughout the tournament. And they certainly did. They hammered away. And I think it has damaged Virginia's brand to the point where I don't think it's ever been under the microscope like it is right now, even though some people that know basketball, I mean really know basketball,

people who have played it at a high level and coached it, some of them have told me they thought that this past year. Was Tony Bennett's best coaching year. Yeah, under the circumstances was Tony Bennett's best coaching job of his career. And that's where I'm on that side of the fence. Yeah. Third place in the regular season, third place in the ACC tournament, a whisker's hair for making the ACC final.

You make it to the ACC championship, you're probably not in the play-in game. If you're in the ACC championship, I'm talking the tournament here, anything can happen. You catch a break or two, you win the tournament championship, you're seeded considerably higher, and then we may not be having this conversation.

Yeah, and we might still be. They still might have gotten beaten by somebody they shouldn't have. But it's puzzling to me that this team, it just never lived up to the expectations that people had for it. And maybe they had a couple of misses in the portal. Maybe some of these guys just didn't develop the way they expected they would. I'd say minor.

I'd say Rhodey was potentially a miss. I think there's latitude potentially with Rhodey finding confidence in the jump shot. There was flashes of Rhodey, playmaking, court awareness, feel for the game. Toward the end of the season, we started seeing a little pep and a little confidence with his jump shot. We started saying, oh, this guy's long, this guy's tall, this guy's got handles, this guy can defend on the perimeter, he can pass the ball. But when the jump shot's not working for a guy that's playing the two,

you basically sag off this guy who's shooting 20% from downtown or less, and then you allocate the attention to Beekman or McNeely or Dunn. Yeah, and Groves was not to the same degree as Rudy, but he was hot or cold, and when he was cold, his eyes cold, there was really no other options because, like you said, Dunn was a slasher and a guy who could kill you around the rim, but he couldn't hit a jump shot, or at least rarely did. His shooting percentages were woeful.

And any good basketball coach will tell you, you know, if all I have to do is stop two guys, I can probably beat you. But if I have to stop three, it's a whole different equation. And people that have three scores that you can rely on are really hard to beat. I mean, look at UConn if you've got any questions about that. Matt Hines watching the program. James Watson, you're on deck. Randy Clark on Hootie's page with a question. Mr.

Hines wants to know if there are word or scuttlebutt coming to the coaching staff. He says, any word of changes are coming to the staff. Seems like if changes are coming offensively, you might refresh the staff with some new perspectives and skill sets. He's the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer. I'm just a passionate fan here. Tony Bennett's strength is his loyalty and his commitment to his beliefs,

his beliefs faith-wise, basketball philosophy-wise, and loyalty to his staff, one of his biggest strengths here. I wouldn't imagine we'd see anything like this happening, change-wise. I don't think so. I mean, I think if we were going to see any change, it would have happened already. I know a lot of people felt like that maybe this was the year if Jason Wilford was going to become a head coach somewhere else

that this would have been the year. Especially with the JMU opening. Right, and that didn't happen. And, of course, Ron Sanchez, there was a change not that long ago when he rejoined the staff, leaving Charlotte, replacing Kyle Getter. So, no, I don't think there's going to be any changes in the staff at this point. I don't see anybody leaving unless, I think, for Isaiah Wilkins or Johnny Carpenter, they're not ready to become head coaches anywhere else at this point. I don't know if anybody would be talking to them about joining their staff.

But I think the staff has probably said, Tony's a pretty stubborn guy. I don't think about trying to change his philosophy and taking chances on some kids that might be a five-star or a one-and-done kind of guy, and he's kind of been against that. He still believes in the old school philosophy that he learned under his dad that there are no shortcuts into building a program.

Things have changed a little bit now that college athletics have drastically changed in the past 12 to 24 months. I think he's probably going to have to make some adjustments offensively, no matter if he gets anybody new in the program at this point or not.

I think he probably will get some more players. It's still early in the portal in that respect. But he's a guy who I think he's pretty content with his staff. I don't think he is the kind of guy that welcomes a whole wave of changes to things. I think he will tweak the offense and look at ways to make it more efficient. But I don't think we're going to see a great overhaul of Virginia basketball in any aspect. Randy wants to know on your Facebook page how the NIL stacks up in the ACC UVAs. I don't think anybody knows the answer to that because none of these schools have to.

And he's watching in Gilbert, Arizona. Wow. Thank you so much. Thanks for welcoming us into your home. That information just isn't available. The schools don't have to publicize or even divulge what their NIL programs are. Which is frustrating. It's very frustrating because, you know, you're going in blind if you're another program. You don't know what you're up against.

All you hear is rumors. I've talked to some coaches, and they sometimes will be told by rival coaches what their particular NIL numbers are. And I guess those numbers are changing all the time at every school, really, because people are still trying to catch up with who's got what and is this good enough? Are we having some shortcomings here? Does our cup runneth over? I don't think anybody, I don't think anybody knows what every school in the ACC's NIL numbers are.

I don't think that information is, and I don't know if it will ever be available, because it doesn't have to be unless a school volunteers it. And I don't see any school doing that unless they're made to by law or some other method where they have to do so. Who are the top NIL momentum drivers or forces or brands behind it. I mean, one of them you work closely with in the Good Feet store. Yeah. McDonald's is another one. Right.

The local franchise owners. Yeah. I think Roback, another one of my sponsors, I think they produced some NIL money for the program. I've heard of some others that do so, but I don't know to what degree. But I do know that more NIL money has poured into the program. And I think a lot of it came out of frustration. And I think a lot of it was spurned by that dark day in November when Virginia-Texas beat the living daylights out of Virginia on the football field.

And I think it was such an embarrassing, humiliating loss that some people just couldn't take it anymore. And they said, we're not going to let this happen again. And if it takes giving NIL money, then that's what we'll do. people just couldn't take it anymore and they said we're not going to let this happen again and if it takes giving NIL money then that's what we'll do but I think there are so many sources of

NIL there's no way to tell exactly unless those people make it public publicly known like some of the companies we have mentioned there's no way of telling unless you just hear it through the grapevine. James Watson We'll make it publicly known like some of the companies we have mentioned. There's no way of telling unless you just hear it through the grapevine.

James Wasson, we appreciate you watching the shows. He's a diehard Virginia fan. He's watching the program. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll relay them live on air. We're talking basketball. We've got to talk football. We've got to talk Malik Washington.

Of course, we've got baseball and lacrosse to talk about. Lacrosse, ACC tournament, semifinals this weekend. I believe it's Friday. I'll check the schedule here in a matter of moments. Against Notre Dame, a repeat or a rematch against Notre Dame. That storyline coming up. Malik Washington, six-round pick Miami Dolphins. Yeah, I was disappointed that he was taking that late.

Me too. I thought he would go, I thought he'd be up around in the 90s or at least 120-something, but he was picked later than that. I think the Dolphins got a steal. They got a steal. I think he's a guy that can help them in the slot from the get-go. And I think that's – I saw the video of Mike McDaniel when they – he knew that Washington was secured and they had the pick, and he did a – Fist pump.

He did a fist pump, and he was very excited that they got him. And they said they got him because they knew he's the kind of guy that would not shy away from the competition in that receiver's room and that he would be a guy that would give it his all. He's exactly right. Malik Washington is one heck of a competitor. He's a very intelligent guy i mean he was all academic big 10 all academic acc he's so well spoken so well put together so well organized

i'll never forget tony ellett talked about when they went to visit him, I guess, at his apartment in Chicago when he was in the portal. And they got to his apartment, and everything in the apartment was like... Perfect. Like a Molly maid had been there for a month. But it was just Malik Washington. He's that organized, that well put together, and that's the way his entire life is. And the guy is, what surprised me,

I know his size probably hurt him a little bit, and he's not the fastest guy in the world, he'll tell you that, but he has so many other assets that one of the things I know the Dolphins liked about him was his yards after catch and that's one of his strengths. He runs like a running back not like a wide receiver. So we've talked about that many times on this program, but I can't believe that NFL teams didn't see

that he put up those kind of numbers week after week when opposing defenses, we would hear on the ACC teleconference or other press conferences throughout the week in advance that other coaches saying, well, we've got to know where he is all the time. We can't let him beat us. So he was one of the top targets in every defensive game plan he faced this year,

and yet he still put up over 100 yards a game almost every week and did it chiefly with a freshman quarterback. I was so impressed with the year he had. It's one of the best years I've ever seen a guy have. The fact that other NFL teams didn't recognize that is a surprise to me, and that's why I think the Dolphins and McDaniels is known as sort of an offensive genius in some of the schemes he runs, not only throwing plays but running plays but uh he's at another level in terms of offensive uh

scheming i think he knows that malik washington is a guy that's going to fit right into that offense and make a difference uh they need a third receiving option yep miami dolphins tua does a great job of spreading the football around. They obviously have arguably the most explosive playmaker at their number one option, the Miami Dolphins. Are you a 49ers fan? Is someone in your family a Dolphins fan? No. What is Scott? Steelers.

He's Steelers. Yeah. Scott's a Steelers fan. So this is a good spot potentially for Malik Washington. A couple of measurables I want to highlight. A 42.5 inch vertical 5'8 Does not worry me at all When he plays in the slot

There's been plenty 5'8, 5'9 guys Wes Walker is a perfect example A little bit of the speed at 4'4, 7' May be question mark But when you're playing in the slot More about quickness than speed And Washington's got the quickness and the hands to match. I love this for Malik Washington.

And it would be a great opportunity for Virginia football to have a guy like this make a roster and perform for future recruitment opportunities. And speaking of recruiting, where do you want to begin with Tony Elliott and what he's doing in the offseason? Well, you know, I think overall they've done a pretty good job putting together the next recruiting class. I think overall they have 11 commitments at this point. I think it seems to be a little higher caliber of recruit for the most part.

There are a couple of guys on there that raises eyebrows. How do you say his first name, X-A-Y? I think Zay. Zay Davis is who Hootie is referencing, and he's doing it in very kind fashion. Hootie is one that is a kind man here. This guy is not rated by any recruiting service. True.

He's a running back out of Richmond. And his list of schools are not going to blow you away. Coastal Carolina is really the only one that. Was that the Chanticleers? The Chanticleers, yes is that, the Chanticleers? The Chanticleers, yes. What is a Chanticleer? It's a rooster. Oh, it's a rooster.

Yeah. Thank you. And it'll claw your eyes out. Okay, it'll claw your eyes out. Okay, I learned something today here from Hootie. But anyways, there's a couple guys like that on the list of the 11 that aren't that highly ranked or ranked at all. But generally, some of these guys have a pretty nice profile. And one of them I was looking at, one of the most recent recruits,

yeah, the Justin Rowe kid out of Asheville, North Carolina. He picked Virginia over some pretty good schools. I mean, he was offered by Michigan, Missouri, NC State, SMU, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Boston College, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. That's a pretty impressive list. He's mostly recruited as a linebacker, although he's a versatile kid. He could probably play in the nickel as a safety and some other spots they could possibly move around in.

But they have several guys on this list that have been pursued by some pretty good football programs. And so I think overall the next class will be his best class and a pretty decent class. There's still not a lot of guys from the state of Virginia, but, you know, they're not done yet. They can still probably sign at least double the commitments they have now. But he's got an uphill battle.

You know, not a lot of people want to come to a program that's winning three games a year. The unfortunate aspect right now, and this could be a lead storyline for a commentary piece or a talk show like this, and Rob Neal is making a joke here. He's a diehard JMU football fan, JMU sports fan across the board, and he calls the Chanticleers beach chickens for the JMU Dukes. Rob Neal, you've got to chuckle out of both of us here. I like that. That's a good one. The storyline is the current brand equity of both basketball and football right now.

They seem to be on a similar trajectory. And that trajectory is one of rebuilding and one of folks trying to negatively recruit against them and utilizing past performance over the last couple of years to do so. This is something I learned from jerryracliff.com. I'm on the website every day, literally, and it's not just because the man is sitting across from me. There's a bang up job with this program. This Davis kid out of the collegiate school, the six-foot, 185-pound running back from Richmond. He's got no stars. He's unranked in the recruiting services. He's the only running back committed for the class of 2025.

Yeah, and that's kind of a surprise because they're shy at that position right now. Right. And Kobe Pace is in his, I think his last year of eligibility. So I think there's only two guys behind him in the program that are running backs. Noah, who had a pretty good spring game. So yeah, that's, that's something that's going to come under the microscope. I don't know if they're looking in the portal to find somebody or not. There's some, now that spring football is over, the portal opened up again for football, and I see guys going into the portal every day.

So they may be looking to see what's out there. But I think Tony Elliott has figured out that he can recruit 23 stars every year. And if they can develop these guys they can win uh you don't have to have four stars and five stars to have a winning program i wake forest proved that to us long ago when jim grobes a virginia alumni was there as their head coach and won the ACC and went to the Orange Bowl with nobody higher than a two-star on his roster. There are programs out there who are not only surviving but flourishing with three stars.

Virginia is, you know, unless something drastically changes Virginia is not going to compete for the ACC championship anytime soon and they don't have to they need to consistently win six or seven games a year

get into a bowl game every four to five years maybe assemble a roster that's good enough to win nine games, flirt with ten, be in the conversation for an ACC championship appearance. But they have to be smart about it in terms of scheduling. I don't think they're doing a very good job of that right now. They just announced this past week that they're going to play Washington State next year, which are in 25, I guess, or 26, whatever it was.

I think it was 25. I don't think that's a very intelligent move. I agree. I don't think that's a very intelligent move. Agreed. I think you should be looking for the worst teams in Division I football and try to build some confidence and get some winning seasons in your background so you can get to, even if it's a crummy bowl game, players want to go to bowl games, you've got to win six games. And if you keep taking on programs that you're even with or behind,

it's awfully hard to do. And I just don't think they've learned that lesson yet. Virginia football, guys, has got a rubber-meets-the-road type of season ahead, and time's going to tell what happens with Tony Elliott and this ball club. We've got to talk baseball. We've got to talk lacrosse. Baseball is second in the coastal division behind North Carolina. It's a talented roster.

North Carolina is loaded. And Virginia won that series against the Tar Heels. Virginia took two of three against the Tar Heels. Two of three against UNC. Where do you want to begin? Baseball, lacrosse, spring sports, anything else? News and notes? Not even tied to these programs that you want to cover?

Well, I don't understand why the ACC has a lacrosse tournament. I mean, it's just four teams that they're going to play. And they're going to end up playing Notre Dame for the second time in a very short span. Playing Notre Dame back-to-back. Yeah, and could end up playing three times like they did last year. To me, that's just too redundant.

I don't think it's necessary. And maybe they have to do that to have games and extend their season. Or maybe there's not enough teams around. I don't know. But it just doesn't make sense to me why they have a tournament but uh it does give them a chance to avenge that loss in in the last game which i thought they would win but uh they they kind of fell apart at the end but uh this like you mentioned earlier i think this roster is loaded enough they could still end up winning the national championship. There's no question

about it. They just need to get on a roll. They're very capable. Virginia's on a three-game losing streak right now. They're 10-4 overall, 1-3 in conference play. Notre Dame is the creme de la creme, at least at this point. Eight-game winning streak, 10-1 overall,

4-0 in conference play. Syracuse, Duke, and then UNC in the cellar. ACC tournament underway Friday, 5 o'clock, Charlotte, with the Fighting Irish as a favorite on paper, but anything can happen. And then the NCAA first round, the tournament, the NCAA dance, starts the 11th of May, which is a Saturday. Any baseball you want to cover? Anything else under the notebook you want to get to?

Well, you know, it's another banner year for Brian O'Connor's program. You can never count those guys out of Omaha. I don't care what the scenario is. We've seen them pull off so many incredible finishes in recent years. Sometimes it takes the postseason to bring out the best in his program. And the fact that they're leading the country or number two in the country in almost every offensive category that means anything is certainly a feather in their caps. in almost every offensive category that means anything,

is certainly a feather in their caps. The pitching's struggling a little bit, and that seems to be the one thing that is holding them back. And it's the one thing that kind of hurt them last year when they got to Omaha. They say good pitching beats good hitting, and they ran into nothing but good pitching in the College World Series, and it shut down Virginia's best hitters. So that's something that has to be a concern, I think,

once we start talking postseason baseball. But they're ranked 9th, 10th, and 11th in the country in almost every poll that matters. Their offensive production is off the charts. I think the one thing they're concerned about now is whether they'll be able to host a regional or not, which it would be nice if they can because it means a lot to the program and it means a lot to the town. It means a lot to the community.

It means a lot to the award-winning journalists a lot to the community. It means a lot to the award-winning journalists that cover the team, especially in the spring. Yeah, it's something nice. A nice diversion. That's for sure. What's in the hopper at jerryracliff.com? Well, we'll...

God, I hope it's Trent Perry. I mean, we constantly scan Twitter and the Internet and everything to find any bit of news we can about the transfer portal and the high school recruiting, especially when it comes to Trent Perry, as you mentioned. He's on the other side of the country, and there's scarce news about this kid.

I don't know if nobody out there cares because he's not looking. I guess he's not looking at Southern Cal anymore. I would think if he was interested in Eric Musselman's program, he would have made a move by now. But there's very little coming out about him, and it's hard to find out much information about the conversations going on between Virginia and some of the players they've reached out to in the portal. So you've got to be Johnny on the spot and watch out for that. It can happen any time of

the day any day of the week but that and we'll be looking hard at lacrosse and baseball for sure as we go forward and certainly the tennis program is doing well and who knows what they might be able to pull I mean you could be looking at multiple national champions in the last championships in the next 30 days. Could. Could possibly. Which says a lot about the depth in this athletic department. His name is Jerry Hootie Ratcliffe.

He's the star of the show. He's the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, the namesake of JerryRatcliffe.com. If you want anything UVA related, you find it at JerryRackliff.com. They do award-winning work there. Mr. Consistency, Mr. MVP, Judah Wittkower behind the camera. He's the man. He is the man. My name is Jerry Miller, and it's the Jerry and Jerry Show,

which airs Tuesdays wherever you get your social media and podcasting content. Thank you kindly for joining us, and so long, everybody. Thank you, sir. Same to you.