Four-star guard Samuels (2026) is enjoying the start to recruiting

Four-star guard Qayden Samuels has been arguably one of the top stock risers this summer playing for Team Takeover on the Nike EYBL Circuit and with his Bishop McNamara team during the June Scholastic Live Period.

Since June 15th when colleges could start contacting rising juniors directly, Samuels has heard from a slew of schools including UVa.

“This summer has been really good,” he told CavsCorner. “I have been working hard and really accomplishing different things so overall it has been good.”

Virginia has been talking with Samuels off and on since last month and watched him multiple times during the two live periods. That communication has made him feel familiar with the program.

“I have a pretty good relationship with Virginia,” he said. “They are telling me to keep working hard and just keep going on with everything that I am working on. They think I can be really good at the next level.”

As of now Samuels, currently No. 29 overall in 2026, is still learning a lot about the program but he likes what he knows so far.

“I still want to watch Virginia play a little more but I know they play hard and always play together,” he explained. “I know they also always have a very strong, communicative group and that is important to me. I want to go somewhere like that because those are the teams that win games.”

While the Hoos have not offered Samuels, he thinks he has an idea of what he needs to accomplish if he were to earn one from them.

“I need to continue to be a leader,” he explained. “I feel like a lot of schools want me to become more of that leader type and always bring my team together as a group. I think if I improve on that, it will help me get more offers overall and not just Virginia.

“They really just want me to keep on doing what I am doing,” he added, “and keep playing hard because they know I have been kind of rising after a good spring and summer so they just want me to keep on doing that.”

As of right now, he knows two schools that he wants to visit but the reality of the matter is that there are a lot of schools he wants to see.

“Rutgers and Florida State I know want to visit soon but there are a lot more that I want to get to,” Samuels said.