UVa’s coaching staff has been busy evaluating 2024 prospects and extended scholarship offers to a few players in that class. One of the latest Rakease Passmore, a 6-foot-5 small forward who attends Combine Academy in North Carolina.

A slew of coaches came through the school for fall workouts recently, so a lot of teams have been able to see Passmore in person.

“This fall has been really good,” Passmore told CavsCorner. “We have put a lot of work in but the important thing is that we put the same type of work in when college coaches are not in the gym. We are putting a lot of reps in and this team is building a good relationship.”

Passmore is starting to build a good relationship with UVa’s coaches and he called his recent offer from the Wahoos a “special” one.

“Virginia is a very special offer,” he explained. “Not too many kids get an offer from Virginia so it was a really good feeling. I was extremely excited to get that offer.”

This past summer was the first one where he played on the highest levels of AAU ball and he certainly made a name for himself, proving to some that he belonged.

“This was my first year on a shoe sponsored circuit and I thought it went pretty well,” Passmore said. “A lot of people did not think I would have success on a shoe sponsored circuit but I proved to a lot of people wrong and I just have to continue to stay focused.”

The North Carolina product thinks he could be a good fit in Charlottesville because Tony Bennett and Cavaliers get a lot out of guys like him.

“Virginia gets a lot of unknown players and I think I am unknown, as I said before, this past summer was my first summer on a shoe sponsored circuit,” he said. “Virginia does not get a lot of highly ranked players or five star players. They just look for underrated players and Coach Bennett has found success in building a good program as he knows the type of guys he wants to bring in and he has told me that I fit that system and I trust a coach that says that type of stuff.”

Passmore has enjoyed getting to know more about Bennett and learning a lot about the program.

“Before I met Coach Bennett and built a relationship with him, I did not know that much about Virginia,” he explained. “He has been telling me that I have the potential to be a one and done. He really likes how I get downhill, how I set my teammates up and he really likes how I play defense.

“He has told me about his offense but because of the coach he is, he told me that they really lock in on defense,” Passmore added. “He has been telling me about the players he has gotten to the league recently and just that they have a lot of good stuff happening with their program.”

In addition to UVa, Passmore picked up offers from Wichita State, Indiana, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Southern California, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech just in September.

He recently took an unofficial visit to Tennessee and said that he is looking to lock in a date for an official visit to Oregon soon.

When asked about a visit to Virginia, he said, “Potentially, yeah. I just have to talk with everybody around me and try to figure out what the best thing for me is.”