Three-star lineman Mort talks UVa, his visit plans, and more

In the days leading up to releasing his top six, three-star offensive lineman Ethan Mort told CavsCorner that he was excited about where his recruitment was headed even if he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to take visits.

Those visits are going to be critical for the Venice (FL) standout.

“I think I’ve got a while before I can commit,” he said. “I think I’m a ways out. But I’m considering schools now and thinking about the coaching staffs and stuff like that.

With a top six that includes UCF, Louisville, USF, Vanderbilt, UVa, and West Virginia, the 6-foot-6, 275 pounder is now on to the next phase of his recruitment.

“Virginia is in my top group for sure, I’d say,” Mort said. “I actually talked to them today, Coach (Garett) Tujague. We Zoomed for like an hour. He’s a good dude and it’s pretty clear how much he loves me. He won’t hold back in the middle of a call and just be like, ‘Dude, I really want to coach you.’ He seems like he’s really into the idea of me being there. He’s always got so much energy. Whenever we’re talking, you can just tell he’s really into it.”

The Cavaliers have been involved with Mort since last fall and Tujague has continued to make him feel like a priority.

“They offered me last November and Coach Tujague was always in the picture,” he said. “He always stayed in contact with me consistently. When they offered me, he was always talking to me after that. He was always in contact.”

At this point, while some 2021 recruits may be tiring of the process, Mort sounds like someone still very much enjoying it even if he’s in a holding pattern of sorts.

“At first it was great because I kind of just worked my way up from the bottom,” he explained. “It was crazy at first, getting attention from colleges and stuff. It was like every time I opened my phone ‘Bing! Bing! Bing!’ Just different coaches hitting me all the time. Even now, I have like 13 texts that I haven’t responded to yet. That’s just the way it is. As soon as you text one back, you get another one. It just never ends.”

It all began, Mort recalled, in the spring of his sophomore year when NC State became the first school to offer. Leading into that, he admits he didn’t really even know what an offer was or how the process worked. At that point, he was focused on losing weight and getting well under 300 pounds.

“Coach told me that day that they were coming and said that I should really ball out so I could get that offer and I was like, ‘What’s an offer?’” he said with a laugh. “At one point, I was very bad at football. I was the softest, most uncoordinated guy out there. I couldn’t block, I couldn’t do anything. So, to be getting that attention and leading to now, it’s crazy to me.”

The way this spring and summer have played out, though, the crazy has been extended. Needless to say, the pandemic and the dead period have caused him some headaches.

“Exactly,” he said. “I want to be able to visit! I mean, a lot of us are kind of stuck in this same spot. I’ve done a few of the virtual visits. Two with Louisville, two with Virginia, two with UCF. Other schools have asked but I just don’t really have time for all that. It’s really time consuming to do one of those. So, I don’t do very many of them unless I’m really interested.”

Despite the lack of visits, the list of things he’s looking for is materializing.

“I know you shouldn’t chase coaching staffs because they can up and leave at any time,” Mort said. “But it comes back to what it was like when I came to Venice. Everyone was like ‘This kid’s not good’ and those coaches believed in me. They stuck with me and wanted to make me good and they did. So, I want to find coaches who will invest in me and work with me and get the best out of me. I don’t want a factory, just pushing guys through. I want guys who care about me.

“So energy, coaches, obviously education as well because that’s ultimately why I’m there,” he added. “That’s kind of what I’m thinking about….With Virginia, I don’t worry because I know those guys. So, I’ve just got to go to the schools and feel that out. I know they’re all good schools. I just need to go and feel out the guys and get a sense for what it’s actually like.”

Despite not having it all planned out now, eventually he wants to get on the road for sure.

“I want to [take these visits] and my dad has said we will,” More said. “I went to UCF on an unofficial once because it’s close. But I think once we can, we’re going to really travel around and see different places.

“I want to go to Louisville,” he added. “I want to go on an official to UCF. USF, I definitely want to go there, I’m not sure if it’ll be official or unofficial since it’s so close. And I definitely want to go on an official to Virginia for sure.”

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