It has been more than two years since Bayside High rising senior Taquan “Smoke” Mizzell committed to Virginia — shutting down offers from North Carolina and West Virginia — and affirmed the Cavaliers’ considerable influence in southeastern Virginia’s Hampton Roads region. Now Virginia’s third-leading rusher and most prolific receiver out of the backfield, Mizzell was a five-star recruit per Rivals.com, the Yahoo!-based outlet for collegiate football and basketball recruiting at the time.
Mizzell became Virginia’s first five-star Rivals recruit since Plainfield (NJ) High School offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, who chose Virginia over Florida State and Oklahoma in 2005 and last March 12 signed a five-year, $37.5M extension with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens.
Virginia coach Mike London said Mizzell has handled his adjustment to the collegiate game with skill, despite considerable pressure stemming from his five-star recruiting rating.
“You have to manage the expectations outside of your group, of your peer group, of your family, of your community,” London said. “Taquan has done a really good job of learning the position of being a running back, not just the holes that you have to see, the vision, when to cut, but also the protections.”
Mizzell’s commitment marked a seminal moment in the recruiting efforts of Cavalier recruiting coordinator Chip West, the cornerbacks coach who last February earned ACC Recruiter of the Year honors from Rivals and Scout.com.
Two additional five-star Rivals recruits joined Mizzell at Virginia this offseason: Bayside High safety Quin Blanding and Oscar Smith defensive tackle Andrew Brown. Both hail from Hampton Roads, as does West, who played football at Hampton’s Kecoughtan High School in the late 1980s before suiting up for Livingstone College, a historically black college in Salisbury, North Carolina, from 1989-1992.
The No. 1 safety recruit in his class per ESPN, Rivals, Scout and 247Sports, Blanding is off to a fast start in his first collegiate season. The freshman has started all 10 games at free safety and leads the Cavaliers with 102 total tackles. Playing alongside senior strong safety Anthony Harris, Blanding is gaining valuable insight into how to make use of his full potential as a collegiate player.
“You've seen his development over the last few games,” London said the Monday after Virginia’s loss Georgia Tech. “He's going to be a good football player, and obviously he's done some things that have put him in the talk of being a Freshman All-American, and that's just the reality of it.”
Brown, who enrolled at the University in January after earning the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Year award his senior year at Oscar Smith in Chesapeake, has been slowed by turf toe and left-shoulder injuries his first year in Charlottesville. Since returning to full strength in September, Brown has played in three games as a reserve, making three tackles. London said though the ailments dampened his immediate impact, Brown is improving as a collegiate player.
“When you can't run and you can't practice, you can't push, you can't get off blocks, then it kind of stymies your ability to perform,” London said. “But what he's done is he's embraced his role. He's gotten better. He's learned the defense. He's really kind of got ingratiated even to some special-teams aspects, as well. He'll be a good player.”
Counting Mizzell, Blanding and Brown, 25 current Cavaliers played high school football in the Hampton Roads region — area code 757. Of that group, 14 — including junior defensive end Eli Harold, senior middle linebacker Henry Coley and junior defensive tackle David Dean — came to Charlottesville from Virginia Beach.
“A lot of guys like to talk about the 757 thing and, ‘Why is everybody coming from the 757 here?’” Coley said earlier this year. “A lot of these guys have played together on those same teams or against each other throughout their entire lives. …There is no big secret to why everybody is comfortable, why everybody likes to be around each other. I mean, these guys have known each other for years.”
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