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Despite position change, Haskins explains why UVa fit him the best

Bobby Haskins jumped all over the offer from UVa recently.
Bobby Haskins jumped all over the offer from UVa recently. (Bobby Haskins/Twitter.com)

Days before he graduated high school, Bobby Haskins went to Charlottesville in hopes of earning an offer. He left town not only with the offer but also having committed to the Cavaliers well before his post-grad year at The Hun School begins.

Still, he's got a challenge ahead this summer and this season that will require his full attention: Moving from tight end to offensive tackle.

"I think the fact that it came two days before graduation, 18 hours or whatever before graduation, was huge for me," Haskins told CavsCorner. "The last four years I've had at Fairfield Prep were tremendous and I made friendships that are going to last a lifetime. So to be able to have that great news that Friday night and then go and celebrate with all of my best friends on Sunday as a group, it was an unbelievable weekend."

The 6-foot-7, 240 pounder had offers from Minnesota, Pitt, Rutgers, Temple, and UCF, among others, and certainly things would've picked up during his year at The Hun School. But the groundwork for choosing UVa began to be laid not terribly long ago.

"As soon as I knew I was going to do the post-graduate year, Coach Smith from the Hun School started sending my film out to a bunch of schools and there's a connection [at UVa] because there's actually a Hun player (Chris Sharp) currently on the roster, so there's some continuity between the two programs," Haskins explained. "They responded immediately, Coach (Kelly) Poppinga became my recruiting coach because he's got north Jersey, and he said they really liked my film. They weren't sure what they wanted to do with me positionally so they wanted me to come down to camp and work out a bunch of different positions so they could see where I fit best.

"I hadn't really been looking at them or really anybody outside of the Ivy League," he added. "My coach from Fairfield Prep did an unbelievable job of connecting me with those coaches and he was fantastic in terms of creating those opportunities for me but at the end of the day, when I decided to take a fifth year I decided I wanted to try and play at the highest level possible. That's when I started sending my film out to a bunch of different schools."

Like in Haskins' case, recruiting sometimes has a way of working out. But he also saw the other side of the process, when things didn't work out in his favor.

"I was waiting to get my test score up to get up in a better band for Princeton and they told me once I had accomplished that that they would offer," he recalled. "And while I was waiting for my test score to come out, they had another tight end commit and then my spot was gone. That's when we decided that I needed to do the fifth year."

Having visited Charlottesville in April for the first time during his school's spring break, Haskins came into his return visit and camp opportunity recently with plenty of excitement about the school and program.

"I fell in love with the campus right away," he said. "I mean, I fell in love with it immediately. It's unbelievable. Now, at the same time, I'm looking to find the best mix of academics and football and Virginia is one of the best—if not the best—public school in the country. So that was really an easy decision once I had the opportunity to earn that offer down at camp. I said to myself going in that I was going to just attack it and if I get it, I'm going to pull the trigger."

One interesting wrinkle, of course, is that to this point Haskins has been a tight end but after working him out during camp UVa liked his potential best at offensive tackle.

"I've never played it in a game, no," he said. "Actually, ever. But I've heard from several coaches in the recruiting process that tackle would be a possibility and then a bunch of coaches thought my upside was greater at tackle than at tight end. And UVa echoed that as well. When I came down for camp and worked out with Coach (Garett) Tujague, I knew that it was definitely the right move."

After working out during camp, he and his dad went up to talk to Bronco Mendenhall and Tujague. In the midst of a long conversation, Virginia offered and he jumped.

"We talked about a lot more than just football," Haskins said. "We talked about family. We talked about faith. We talked about a lot very important stuff when you're making a decision like where to go to school and spend the next four years. The vibe I got that from that conversation was just so authentic and I really felt comfortable around the coaches and it really felt like family. It felt like home."

With that decision made and his post-grad year ahead, the time he'll have to adjust to the new position is clearly a big focus for him.

"I think it's going to be pivotal," he said. "Obviously, tackle is going to be new to me so I'm going to need as much time as possible to understand the nuances of the position, working on my technique, and giving my body time to grow and put some weight on. I think it's a real blessing that I have this fifth year because I need the time to work on it."

Though there's still plenty of time before he can officially sign a letter of intent, Haskins says he is finished with the recruiting process.

"When that conversation ended, I said, 'This is where I want to be' and I'm 100 percent done and committed to Virginia," he said. "I'm not taking calls, texts, anything. I'm all squared away and I'm so excited."



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