Worcester Academy's Canaan Severin, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound wide receiver from Marlborough, Massachusetts, announced today that he is making a verbal commitment to the University of Virginia football team.

Rated three-stars (a 77, almost four stars) by ESPNU, and four-stars by Rivals.com, Severin had listed Penn State, Boston College and Virginia as his final three schools. He is ranked as the #1 prospect in Massachusetts.

Virginia had emerged as an early favorite, as noted several months ago by ESPN.com:

However, Severin made it clear that Penn State is not his clear-cut favorite. He said he likes the coaching staffs at Connecticut and Iowa, talked about the appeal of playing college football in his home state and raved about his trip to Virginia last weekend. "It went very well," he said. "They want me really bad. It's beautiful down there. Coach [Mike] London is someone you want to be around."

Two years in, and Coach London has had some serious recruiting inroads not only in Virginia, but in the Northeast as well! This may certainly put a different light on several new northeastern schools joining the ACC. While the football talent may not be as deep as in Virginia or other southern states, with more exposure we're much more likely to make bigger inroads into the talent that's currently there.