Four-star OL Anderson recaps his OV to UVa, talks timeline

Sometimes you make an impact in recruiting through jerseys and photo ops. Sometimes it’s through the Xs and Os and how you show a player the way they’ll fit on the field.

And sometimes, you play disc golf.

Such is the way relationships between coaches and players are built, at least for UVa’s Garett Tujague and four-star Rivals250 offensive lineman Fisher Anderson.

A 6-foot-7 tackle from Franklin (TN), Anderson is currently ranked No. 185 overall in the class of 2022. He’s also presently the No. 22 player at his position nationally.

But beyond that part of the recruiting process is where Anderson truly prefers to exist. Which is why Tujague’s decision to purchase some discs and try to play a game that Anderson loves, as well as hike with the Tennessee product, spoke volumes.

“Man, we talked about a lot of stuff,” Anderson said of the veteran O-line coach. “A lot of stuff that he does with the guys, like having the groups over to his house and the times he’s hanging around the guys. When we were doing other activities, like disc golf and we went on a hike and stuff, we talked about those things a lot. We already had Zooms talking about how he coaches and that kind of realistic stuff, so we didn’t talk about that as much and it was more about off-the-field stuff.”

That sort of quality time is what Anderson really hoped he’d find on his official visit to UVa this past weekend.

“I really just wanted to get to know the people the most I’d say,” he told CavsCorner. “The facilities and tours and stuff, that was alright and necessary of course. But mainly I wanted to spend time with the players and the coaches and the recruits and stuff.

“It definitely did line up,” Anderson said of his expectations. “It kind of reinforced for me everything I already know about the people and seeing them in person just kind of confirms what you’ve seen [during virtual visits] was true when obviously sometimes that might not be true.”

Hosted by senior OT Bobby Haskins, Anderson believes he got a great feel for the people at UVa which was exactly the kind of thing neither Zoom nor “unofficial” unofficial visits during the dead period would allow.

“He was amazing,” Anderson said of Haskins. “I must’ve asked him a million questions and stuff. We talked a lot about life outside of football and just a little bit about football itself, since obviously I’ve learned a little bit more about that piece. As a starting left tackle himself and as a really good player and a great guy, I obviously just wanted to get to talk to him about other stuff. He was great.”

Getting to talk to the players and coaches was huge for Anderson, who pointed directly to those relationships as something that will play a big role in his decision-making process. So, Tujague going the extra mile really did say a lot to Anderson and his family.

“That is true, I can confirm,” he said with a laugh when asked about his love for disc golf. “It’s probably second to football just because it’s so fun.

“It did mean a lot,” Anderson added, “not only that he played but he practiced before, bought some discs and stuff…He didn’t really have control but I appreciated the effort. It was really fun no matter what, kind of teaching him things. He taught me some football stuff and I taught him some stuff about disc golf.”

Anderson wasn’t the only sought-after lineman in town this weekend, as he joined five-star Zach Rice and three-star Jake Maikkula. The group spent a lot of time talking and building their own friendships.

“With Jake, we talked a lot about the recruiting trips and places he’s visited, on the west coast and stuff,” Anderson explained. “He’s really similar to me in a lot of ways. It was really cool talking to him and his parents. They seemed pretty similar to mine as well. And then talking to Zach, we kind of talked a lot more about the recruitment stuff and shared a little bit more of that, those similarities, and kind of where his mind was at and what factors we were looking at and stuff. That was really good.”

After having visited Northwestern last weekend and now UVa, he’ll go next to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge before heading to Carolina and then Stanford for OVs over the final two weekends of the month.

“I really want to, I think, look at about a week after all those weeks and work stuff out,” he said. “I think that would be real beneficial for me. I doubt that anything will happen where I can’t do that in terms of time or a time crunch. But if that did happen, I’m sure it would just mean spending a little bit more time thinking about it before I go to bed and stuff.”

It’ll be the culmination of a recruiting process that certainly didn’t play out the way he or many other prospects in the 2022 class expected

“Well, it definitely started out exhilarating,” he said. “There were kind of no repercussions for this decision at first but now, it kind of is, like you said, more of a sprint. Everything is coming to a close real fast.”

The COVID-inspired dead period “made everything not feel as real anymore because it wasn’t in person and everything I had been doing was kind of prolonged and over Zoom, which isn’t nearly as beneficial.”

Instead, he believes he went “back” into recruiting a year and a half later unprepared to some extent.

“That’s probably on the NCAA and a little bit of misaction on their part,” he said.

Ultimately, though, he feels good about where thing stand now.

“I think it’s going to be alright,” Anderson said. “It’s been one of the greatest things, to be a part of it, as a recruit because I know how unique it is. I like being different and I think I’ve been able to do that throughout the process too.”

The end of the journey is drawing closer and it sure feels like something Anderson is ready to reach.

“Right now, I have kind of already filtered out a lot of other schools that I’ve been talking to for a while,” he said. “So that’s been pretty hard. Getting to this final point, I feel very confident in the schools that I still have left and I feel like the kind of things that will separate from there will be what the campus is like, what the other people are like on campus, and how the coaches and the players interact at the schools, how long that’s going to last.”

JOIN CAVSCORNER TODAY!

If you are not already a member of CavsCorner, come join us and see what all of the buzz is about.

Click HERE to subscribe and get all of the latest news and join hundreds of other UVa fans in talking about Cavalier football, basketball, and recruiting. You won't be disappointed!