We got our word on four-star UVA Basketball recruit Silas Barksdale: per assistant coach Matt Henry, “we’re trying to figure out some redshirt stuff.”
Hat tip to AFP staffer Crystal Graham for this one.
Crystal was a guest of a fan who has tickets that include access to the Cavalier Club, which gives the monied elites a meal and a pregame Q&A with an assistant coach.
Henry was the assistant coach in the suite last night, ahead of Virginia’s 91-53 win over Hampton.
After taking a question from a fan who’d asked him how he’d gotten connected with first-year Virginia coach Ryan Odom, Crystal was next, and she asked about Barksdale.
Credit to our folks here: they read the content.
These kinds of Q&As usually involve questions along the lines of, What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Anyway, the answer on Barksdale’s status is what we’d expected.
“Unlike in football or in football, they’re allowed to play four games, and they can still redshirt without a medical designation. We are trying to find the balance, Coach is trying to find the balance with Silas about what that the best thing is for him. It’s really hard, right? Because, like, you want to put everything you have for to this year’s team, but you also want to give him the opportunity to be his best, which is probably going to be down the road,” Henry said.
Barksdale, a four-star power forward from Newport News, was a big get for Odom, who originally got a commitment from Barksdale to play for him at VCU, before Odom took the job at Virginia.
The 6’9” big averaged 22 points and 15 boards a game at Woodside High School as a senior.
More from Henry on Barksdale:
“The unique thing about Silas, this is why we’re such believers in him, he didn’t turn 18 until May of his senior year, which is not completely abnormal for most folks, but in the college basketball world, that is really young,” Henry said.
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