Decision to pick Virginia was an easy one for three-star LB Garrett
Last Friday and Saturday were going to be visit days for Highstown (NJ) Peddie School standout Javar Garrett. He'd get in a car, drive a while, see some sights, sit down with the coaches, and then head home.
He was supposed to be in Nashville and then in Raleigh. That is, until the plan got scrapped because ultimately the three-star linebacker knew where he wanted to be.
And that's how he ended up in Charlottesville this past weekend, a visit that culminated with his commitment to Bronco Mendenhall and the Cavaliers on Saturday afternoon.
The 6-foot-2, 208 pounder, who was on Grounds several weeks ago, chose the Wahoos on his return trip over offers from Indiana, NC State, Rutgers, Temple, and Vanderbilt as well as interest from Boston College, Pitt, Purdue, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech.
"I was very interested to get back," Garrett told CavsCorner the day after committing. "I really loved it there the first time and they made a huge, huge impact on my recruiting process. I had planned on visiting Vanderbilt on Friday and North Carolina State on Saturday but I was so sure that I wanted to go to Virginia that I cancelled those trips and took those days to visit UVa again."
The first trip set the table not only for his recruitment but also his eventual commitment.
"It was just the way everyone on the coaching staff was family," he explained. "That part stuck with me for weeks. From the recruiting assistants to the coaches, a lot of these guys have been together for a long time. Some of them have been together for 10 years and several of them played for Coach Mendenhall. They talked to me in a way that just made me feel like family and I think that was because they are a family. It was real and they were very welcoming."
As is sometimes the case for recruits, the first visit may have blown him away but Garrett needed one more thing on his second trip in order to pull the trigger: He needed sign off from his family.
"This visit was longer obviously but the big thing was that it verified for me that I really wanted to go there," he said. "I got a lot of information on the academic side, I got to go to a class and see what that was like, and I just knew it was where I wanted to be. But I also needed to get my mom down there so she could see it and make sure she really loved it as well.
"And she really saw what I saw as well," Garrett added. "It was family to her too and she liked the mix of academics and football. She had a great time for sure."
In breaking down the two days, there was an easy sort of way that the visit was structured.
"The first day was really about the school," he recalled. "It was academics and student life. I got a very thorough tour of things, I got to see every building and I got speak with their academic support staff about how as an incoming freshman what it will be like for me. And then the second day, it was pretty much all football."
In addition to watching the team practice in Scott Stadium on Saturday, Garrett got to sit down with assistant coach Shane Hunter and break down film. Though Hunter coaches UVa's inside linebackers, Garrett said that he actually was initially contacted by OLB coach Kelly Poppinga. UVa likes the idea of cross-training him much the way the staff is doing the same with second-year LB Jordan Mack.
"I've mainly been recruited as an outside linebacker honestly," Garrett said. "Coach Poppinga was the first person I had talked to and when I go there, I'll start out as an outside linebacker. But they want me to play outside and inside the way Jordan is going to this year.
"I really liked the scheme already but that stood out to me a lot, the way they see me fitting in and moving all over the field," he added. "It'll give me a great chance to earn my way onto the field. Plus, I used to play inside and I found it to be a lot of fun and I really liked it. So playing both spots, honestly, that's one of the things that sealed the deal."
The moment when he decided to tell the coaches the good news is also something that stands out about a visit that he'll remember forever.
"I sat down with Coach Mendenhall, Coach Ruff (Ruffin McNeill), Coach Hunter, and Coach Poppinga and [Mendenhall] talked to my mother and father about the visit and then he asked me where they stood in my recruitment," Garrett said. "And that's when I told him I was ready.
"It was very special," he added. "When I said I wanted to commit, I barely got the word 'commit' out of my mouth before Coach Poppinga jumped up to give me a high five."
His feelings in the aftermath as well as the next day were mixed between relief and excitement.
I'm relieved," he said, "that the recruiting process is over and I'm excited to be a part of the family at UVa. These last two months, it sort of got hectic and I got a little annoyed with it at times to be honest. But overall, I really liked it because last year around this time was when I got my first two offers so it's been a good learning experience since then and I took a lot from it. I'm just really glad it's over and that I'm headed to Virginia."
So, now that his decision is out of the way, what's the focus for him going to be the spring and summer?
"I definitely want to get stronger and faster going into my senior year," Garrett said. "I want to be 215 during the season. I know [the coaches at UVa] want me to play there at about 235 but I'll add that weight once I get there."
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