Late offer from UVA Football for Louisa RB Savion Hiter was too late

The nation’s top-ranked running back recruit, a kid from nearby Louisa County, Savion Hiter, has committed to Michigan, and though UVA Football wasn’t among his official list of finalists, still a big loss.

Word had gotten back to me a few weeks ago that Virginia had reached out to Hiter in the spring, too late in the game, as it turns out – but a source close to Hiter indicated to us that UVA had made a compelling NIL offer to the five-star recruit.

Problem being, the finalists in the Hiter game – including Michigan, and Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio State – have been there from the get-go.

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ICYMI

• UVA Football jumps in ‘with two feet’ on NIL: Competitive, yes, but is it sustainable?
• Carla Williams maps out her strategy for returning UVA Football to prominence
• Are college athletes mercenaries? UVA’s Williams, Jones address the question of the day
• UVA athletes are getting paid: Some people have a problem with that

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Chalk this one up as an obvious L, just because we didn’t get the kid – but you never know, maybe he gets up to Ann Arbor, gets frustrated at not getting snaps as a freshman, decides that the winters are too harsh that far up north, and we can get back in the game.

Going forward, the L underscores the importance of getting in the game early.

Officially, Virginia offered him, but without NIL on the table early on, you fall to the back the line.

The commitment from the money people over the winter hopefully pays dividends going forward, but bad news, that’s still probably a couple of years out in terms of us seeing the return on investment.