Four-star forward Coleman talks about his offer from the Wahoos
Though UVa continues to try to close out the class of 2019 with its lone remaining scholarship, Tony Bennett and his staff spent most of last month tracking a host of 2020 targets in events all across the nation.
The one player fans and observers alike have asked the most about, without question was four-star Trinity Episcopal/Team Loaded forward Henry Coleman.
On Thursday afternoon, the 6-foot-7 Richmond native finally announced publicly that he had gotten the call he had been waiting on for a while.
"I talked to Coach Bennett last night," Coleman told CavsCorner, "and he was just saying that he really just watched my game over the summer and he really evaluated me and he really liked what he saw. He liked how I was a leader and how I can impact the game.
"He offered last night," Coleman added, "but I kind of waited today to put it out there on Twitter and stuff because it was a little later last night, around 10:30, so I didn't really want to put it out too late."
A Virginia fan whose mother attended the university, it's been no secret that UVa was a school Coleman was hoping would offer. Not surprisingly, then, it's a pretty special day.
"Oh yeah," he said with a big laugh. "Definitely. You know, I've been looking forward to it a lot. It's a school from around here and I've gone to a lot of games since I was younger and stuff. I have always really, really liked the school and the staff."
His mother might have been even more excited.
"Yeah she's still super, super excited," Coleman joked. "She keeps telling my dad, because my dad went to Virginia Tech, and now that both have offered they're both going at it. But it's just a fun experience and she's still very, very happy."
As he went into the crucial live periods last month, Coleman trusted in himself. That remained the case when Kansas, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, and Cincinnati, among others, offered.
"I was just very confident in my game," he explained. "I just put in a lot of work in with Matt Murrer, our great shooting coach that played at VMI, and Brandon Ward too, two really good trainers. I have put a ton of work in and I was just looking forward to the live period and stuff to show people what I had. But I wasn't too stressed out even though I wanted some more offers. But offers come and go, you know. They can be here one second and gone the next. So I was just very prepared and was just going to play my game. If I got some and if I didn't, I was still going to play my game and help my team win."
So what's next for the newly-offered forward?
"I have school starting in about a week," he said. "So I'm going to take some time, kind of settle everything down and get ready for that. But in September, I definitely plan on taking some visits. I haven't had anything set up yet but I definitely plan on taking some visits."
Asked what he's looking for in a school, Coleman echoed comments from the spring in reference to UVa that academics would be critical.
"Yeah academics is definitely top three," he said. "The other two things are just a great program that lets me play in a good system and another one is a program that lets me feel like I'm at home. That's what my dad always says, 'Go to a program that's home away from home.' And I feel like Virginia kind of helped me out on that."
Going forward, rest assured that Coleman is ready for all the questions he'll get now that the UVa offer is in.
"Everybody's just been happy," he said with another laugh. "They just keep asking when I'll commit but I don't know yet. I just have to keep an open mind."
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