Four-star Huff is counting down the days until he arrives at UVa in June

While playing at Voyager Academy in Durham, Jay Huff proved to be a man amongst boys during his last couple of seasons. Now, the four-star signee is ready to make the move to the next level

Playing for his dad Mike, Huff and the Vikings took home the NCHSAA state title during his senior season. He averaged over 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks along the way.

While he had numerous things to focus on the past few months during the midst of his senior season of high school ball, he is now focused on something totally different.

“I’ve been eating a lot,” Huff said with a laugh. “I’ve just been doing that and working out a lot to try to gain weight especially since I don’t have as much in the way of games and stuff that I have to play. So I can eat and work out a lot.”

Huff weighed in at just 180 pounds while standing 6-foot-10 when he committed to UVa almost a year ago. He’s now put on more than 20 pounds and has grown to 6-foot-11 but still has a ways to go in the strength department before arriving on Grounds next month.

“The main thing the UVa coaches wanted me to work on was just getting stronger,” Huff told CavsCorner this week. “I’ve been working a lot on that and lifting. I’m up to 205 pounds now so it’s just a constant process to get stronger.”

Along with his size, Huff will provide the unique ability to shoot the ball from the outside while playing the forward or center position. The stretch-4 position, which has become very popular in both the college and pro games, is a spot which Huff could thrive under head coach Tony Bennett.

Adjusting to the physicality of college basketball, especially in the ACC, is something Huff says he knows he will need to do.

“My main goal is just to get to Charlottesville and work hard,” he explained. “I know I’ll need to push myself even more because at times in high school, I haven’t needed to. I’ll be playing against bigger and stronger guys and I’ll have to step it up.”

Ranked as the No. 50 overall player in the final Rivals150 for 2016, Huff also knows that the possibility of a redshirt season is almost imminent, and while most kids would be hesitant to the idea he embraces it.

“Whether or not that happens, I don’t know but I don’t particularly care one direction or another,” Huff said. “I’m open to redshirting. It’s one more year academically, once more year in a great place. I love Charlottesville already and I haven’t even lived there yet. I know some people don’t want to redshirt and want to play right away and I can understand that. It’s whatever the coaching staff wants, I trust them completely.”

Even with a possible redshirt season looming, UVa’s upcoming European trip will provide Huff with some much-needed grooming when it comes to preparing for college basketball.

“The competition will be a lot better than what I’m used to,” Huff said of the trip. “Pro teams over in Spain will be much better. I think it’ll be good just to get that feel before the season actually starts of getting to play better and stronger teams. It’ll also be good to be able to learn the system and run through plays before the season.”

Along with Huff, the Cavaliers welcome three other four-star signees with Huff being the most-likely to redshirt. But he is also the one that could provide the most upside depending on his development.

“We’ve talked a lot about how we want to win a championship or four,” Huff said of the conversations he's had with his incoming classmates. “The goal is winning a championship and I think we have a really good shot at that. We talked about rankings and how they don’t really matter until the end of the season. The ranking of our class is really high, though, so we do talk about that.”

Despite all of the coming events and the pressure that goes along with it, Huff is still a teenager and is ready to pursue a life off of the basketball court.

“Me and the guys talked about what we are going to bring with us," he said. "I don’t have an Xbox or anything like that. Luckily they do so we talked about who is going to bring what to UVa when we get there. We haven’t figured out a roommate situation yet but I think it’ll be fine with whomever I room with.”