Virginia's top target for the 2013 recruiting class is getting close to making his college choice. Taquan "Smoke" Mizzell announced Wednesday night on his twitter account that he would announce his decision live at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach on the Tuesday, August 21st. Mizzell narrowed his list to five over the weekend at Nike's The Opening in Oregon, and Virginia made the cut. The other four finalists are West Virginia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Clemson.
Mizzell has had a very impressive summer, turning heads at many camps, including The Opening over the weekend, and Rivals 5-Star Challenge last month in Atlanta. Smoke proved himself to be one of the best backs in the nation, and has a shot at earning a 5-star ranking when the major sites re-evaluate a little later on in the year. Mizzell is known as back with solid speed, and elite footwork and route running skills, which has allowed him to dominate 7 on 7 competition all summer long.
Frankly, Virginia should feel great about their chances to land the Bayside star. Mizzell has yet to visit any of his other finalists, and has visited Charlottesville many times. Mizzell is also close with his former Bayside teammates, Anthony Cooper and Demetrious Nicholson, both of whom are on the Cavaliers roster this fall. Virginia has been going after Mizzell really hard for a really long time, and appear to be the heavy favorite to land him at this point. Virginia fans are just going to have to wait 40 days or so, and hope nothing major changes in that time.
I will be in Virginia Beach for the announcement in August to cover it live for Streaking the Lawn and SBNation recruiting, so stay tuned for that, and more updates on all things Virginia Football and Basketball recruiting.