CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Within the last few weeks, Virginia Men’s Basketball fans have breathed a sigh of relief and showcased some excitement about the flurry of players committing to play for Tony Bennet who were in the transfer portal.  The most notable of those recruits is 5-star TJ Power, a forward out of Massachusetts who originally committed to Duke over Virginia and others but entered the transfer portal in April.  Power was formerly the no. 17 player in his high school class making him the highest ranked recruit ever in Tony Bennett’s tenure at UVA.  Along with Jaylen Worley, a former starter at Florida State and Elijah Saunders, who played on a final four team two years ago at San Diego state, Virginia has done quite well in the portal.  While Tony Bennett’s staff has worked hard to adjust to the changing landscape of college athletics and the prominence of the transfer portal, his program as well as the UVA Football program have a valuable tool in their arsenal to help acquire top talent at UVA, and that is Virginia’s official NIL collective, Cav Futures.  With the changing legislation regarding NIL due to a recent bill signed by VA Governor Glenn Youngkin, as well as an injunction filed by VA Attorney General Jason Miyares, NIL collectives can now be involved in the recruiting process.

Lo Davis, the Executive Director of Cav Futures joined the WINA Morning News and addressed the role the collective can now play in assisting Coach Bennett, Coach Elliott and all sports at UVA.  ” So, since the injunction with the Tennessee and Virginia Attorney Generals, it is now permissible for collectives and third parties to have conversations with family members, student athletes, agents and so our world has been a lot different over the last year.”  However, there has obviously been some consternation among UVA fans in terms of paying college athletes and recruiting them to Virginia based on the potential of earning money, but Davis has emphasized that UVA will do it “the right way” and says its a world the Cavaliers have to be in if the University wants to be successful in the revenue sports.  “We’re not going to sacrifice what we believe in we want to make sure that the student athletes fit and we do our part in terms of having those conversations in terms of educating them on what and how we do it.  If it’s not a part of what they think is going to work for them, then we’re out of the game.  I still feel like with all of the student athletes who ultimately choose the University of Virginia NIL is a piece of it, it’s not all of it.  Our roles have changed a little bit more over the last year, but I think the marketplace is starting to define itself a little bit more and we have the choice to make do we want to get in that world or do we not and I think we have to be competitive.”  Listen to the entire interview with Davis from Morning News here:

It remains to be seen how far the University as well as the athletic Department will go to be competitive and ultimately successful in the NIL space but if you’re a Virginia fan the latest basketball recruits as well as a reported 37 football players with NIL contracts with Cav Futures, the Hoos are off to a decent start.  Keep listening to WINA’s ‘The Best Seat in the House’ with Luke Neer for the latest on NIL and UVA recruiting weeknights at 6p.m. on WINA.