Smoke on the Water

Just let this play while you read this:

Today is the day boys and girls. Taquan "Smoke" Mizzell is set to committ at 2:30 pm today in a ceremony at Bayside High School. We've said all along that Mizzell is the most important recruit for this class for a wide variety of reasons. Let's check him out.

Talent: Smoke just got his 5th star from Rivals. High praise for anyone, and extremely rare for UVA to land a player of this caliber. The last rivals 5-star was Eugene Monroe in 2005. Mizzell brings a very unique blend of speed and power and an exceptional ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and make plays in space. Does that sound familiar? Mizzell is a stronger, quicker, and more agile version of Perry Jones, who this offense seems tailored for. The Hoos seem to have the mentality to get guys that will excel in their scheme, rather than stockpiling talent, but in this case, they seem to be doing both. There is a bit of a logjam at running back, but Mizzell has the talent to play right away.

Bayside: There is little doubt that Bayside is quickly developing into a very strong UVA pipeline. Over the last 3 recruiting cycles UVA has managed to pull the elite talent out of that school, and in looking at the quality of player that comes out of the program, that is a great haul. Henry Coley and Tra Nicholson will most likely start this season at sam linebacker and corner respectively, and young Anthony Cooper has shown great progress at practice this season. Mizzell would become the latest of the great players to come out of Bayside. However the best player to come out of there could very well be in the next class at Bayside, 2014 safety Quin Blanding.

National Prominence: These are the kind of players that help build up your program from good to great. Right now UVA is viewed as a program on the rise, but getting more and more big-time talent to buy in will help transition from a program that is building to a program that is built, and built with a solid foundation of talent. The recruiting momentum gained from getting one of the top players not only in Virginia, but in the country, will do nothing but help UVA gain a more prominent place in the minds of the next batch of recruits, especially the class of 2014.

Should everything go according to plan today this could be one of the turning points of the program. Along with Eli Harold from last season Mizzell is a player of national prominence that will grab headlines and thrust UVA into the limelight. This is a great day Wahoo fans. Sit back and enjoy it. Maybe with some Johnnie Walker Blue, right Kendall?