Virginia Cavaliers Basketball Player Profile: Caid Kirven

Caid Kirven, a 6'8'' freshman forward, will join the Virginia Cavaliers program as a walk on this year. Kirven played his high school ball at nearby Woodberry Forest. Kirven joins Doug Browman, Thomas Rogers and Justin Miller as walk-ons on the Virginia roster. The Woodberry Forest product will make his biggest impact on the program in practice, not in games.

Kirven brings something unique that many walk-ons cannot: size. Most walk-ons tend to be guards, as its just harder to find a big man who can do enough to contribute in practice for an ACC team, but wasn't recruited to be a scholarship player elsewhere. Kirven fits this bill. When players get hurt, as they seem to do quite easily at Virginia, walk-ons have crucial roles trying to prepare the starters for the upcoming games by practicing hard. When you can find a walk-on player who can defend in the post and scrimmage as a forward or center, that's always a big bonus.

Walk-ons still have a shot to earn playing time over their careers, of course. Will Sherrill started at Virginia as a walk-on, and ended up starting games and getting a ton of minutes early in the Tony Bennett era. If Kirven gets the right breaks and plays hard in practice, who knows? He could be the next Will Sherrill.