McCarron finally gets to see UVa and a slew of future teammates
When four-star OLB Josh McCarron picked Virginia in April, his commitment was the first in a run of verbals the Wahoos got amid a busy spring.
But the Everett (WA) native had never been to the east coast. And thanks to a dead period that shows no signs of letting up, he ultimately had to take matters into his own hands.
The difference, of course, is that he wasn’t alone.
Last week, the 6-foot-4 McCarron and his family traveled to Charlottesville to finally see UVa for themselves. Not only that, but he was able to meet a slew of fellow commits including Jesiah Davis, Malachi Fields, Michael Green, James Jackson, Hugh Laughlin, Langston Long, Aidan Ryan, Jonas Sanker, and West Weeks, roughly half of the team’s 2021 class.
“It's kind of interesting,” McCarron told CavsCorner on Sunday. “So I committed sight unseen. I'd never been to campus. So when this whole 'Corona world' hit, my parents were just thinking like, ‘When can we get out there? What's the earliest we can get out there?’ And so we finally set the dates that we’d be there, from the 22nd to the 24th. And I just texted the group. I was like, ‘Hey guys, I know none of us have met before but I'm coming out on the 22nd to the 24th and it'd be awesome if some of you guys could come and we can meet as a team.’
“And I really shot that out there expecting no one to respond,” he added. “I kind of was just expecting like, ‘Oh, I can't make it’ and all that. And then it was Lex Long I think that texted back ‘Yeah I can make that.’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ Then a whole bunch of guys started chiming in like ‘Yeah I can make that.’ Everyone kind of hopped on and so that’s who it all worked out and we got to meet each other.”
The coaches helped with the itinerary, which McCarron and his family thoroughly enjoyed. But it was the time with the guys that really made the trip a huge success.
“It kind of just worked out however it worked out,” he said. “The coaches gave us some things to do in terms of what we could go see on campus and what restrictions we had to campus. Obviously, we couldn't go get a tour of the facilities and go into meetings in the McCue or anything. So we just kind of all met up and then just went from there. We all went and got food and just did what teenage guys do.”
Given that it was his first time in town, the chance to see the sights was important.
“So what was kind of fun,” he said, “is that, our first day there, after we got done kind of going around and everything I called Coach (Kelly) Poppinga and I told him I was like, ‘Hey, Coach after seeing everything, if there's any doubt in my mind that about going here, that is gone.
“It was everything they have hyped it up to be and so much more,” McCarron added. “My sister goes to WSU and so I’m super familiar with Pullman and I’ve always had that home feel there and I definitely had it at Virginia, too. Virginia is Pullman on steroids.”
So what stood out the most about his couple of days in Grounds?
“Honestly, during this whole recruiting process and visiting other schools like Oregon, Cal, Utah, schools like that, I never got that home feeling, that gut feeling when I step on campus,” McCarron said. “When I would meet people and I see the community and I see what's going on, I never got that feeling. But I got that feeling on Grounds. It had that feeling. It's a beautiful place.
“Just being there, it was hot and it was humid, you’ve got both the situations with Corona and not being able to meet coaches and stuff like that, and even though there were all those obstacles towards this trip, it still ended up being amazing,” he added. “And it made me feel like I made the right decision. And so I think that's why this trip was truly special. Because even with all the obstacles, we still loved it. I loved it, my family loved it, and even my sister loved it. I think she wanted to hate it but she couldn’t.”
Despite it not being an actual unofficial visit, McCarron and Co. got to see plenty.
“Leading up to the trip, Coach Poppinga gave my mom and I basically a map, an in-car tour,” he said. “Basically, it’s all set up so you don’t have to step out into that heat unless you want to. I got to see the McIntire School of Commerce, I got to see the outside of Scott Stadium, I got to see where I’ll be living my freshman year. We just got to see everything that me as a student-athlete at that school needs and so it was just great. I really didn't need to go inside to know that that's a special place.”
Time with the other commits allowed the guys to form even deeper bonds.
“So my family got there first,” he said. “We were the earliest group because, me being the only person out of that group that's never seen it, I needed the chance to go check it out. Jesiah came in I think a day after me, so he and his family did their 'tours.' The rest of the guys just showed up on Friday.
“It was pretty incredible,” McCarron added. “It's always a special moment when you first meet someone in person that you’ve known online and I felt like I knew a bunch of these guys coming into this really well. And so getting to meet them in person and getting to actually see them and see what they're about, it just makes me even more confident about what we plan to achieve in the next coming four or five years at UVa. Everybody's a clown, everybody is making fun of each other and that's part of the lighthearted side of football and why those hot summers where we're conditioning and everything is going to still be fun even though it sucks. It puts into perspective how everybody was recruited for the same thing. We all have the same mindset. We all have the same goal in mind and so it's just great to see these guys in person and to see that those texts that people were sending back and forth aren't just blank text, where it's just going in one ear and out the other. Everybody actually means what they're saying.”
Is it safe to say that he’s the ringleader of the group?
“I wouldn't call myself the ringleader,” McCarron said with a laugh. “I think, honestly, at the end of the day, I'm just trying to help the team because I've seen what guys like Charles Snowden and Noah Taylor have done in the past and I like to emulate that as we move forward, as they continue to build and continue to grow the program. I just think it's one of the things, in continuously talking with the coaches at UVa, that it's just something that is necessary. I'm a person whose dad has always taught me to do the dirty work and try and try and do what's necessary to be great.
“And I think that’s every guy we have,” he added. “Like James Jackson, he was on the ropes about Stanford and UVa, and everybody in the group texted with him. We just wanted to make sure that we're continuously getting the best recruiting class we can. And the other side of that, too, is one of my good friend of mine, I trained with him, his name's Keith Brown, he's a four-star Oregon commit. He claims to be the No. 1 player recruiter in the country and I'm coming for the crown.”
Instead of it necessarily just being one “Recruiter-in-Chief,” McCarron thinks it’s the class as a whole that has learned how
“I definitely think that it's a group effort and we make sure that not just me but every single guy is hitting them up. I don't put it to just me, but I'd say there's a decent chunk of guys that—I think it was me, Mike, Will (Simpkins), and like four guys committed all within like a week, right? I think that group of five or six guys, I think we've done a good job of working with the guys that committed early like Ahmad and Malachi to consistently bring in new recruits and just make everyone feel like they're welcomed here at home.”
Despite Washington going the same way as the VHSL in planning to play spring football, McCarron said he’s likely not going to be able to enroll early despite that trend catching on even more.
“I don’t think I can,” he said. “I think for me and my family, the idea of playing out my senior season in the spring now is the right call. A part of me would love to come early but I don’t think I can.”
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