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Virginia Football Recruiting: T.J. Griffin Signs with UVa

Not many 2-star athletes from Virginia get offers from Oregon. T.J. Griffin may be rated 2-stars, but he can play. He's fast, he's quick and he's just a football player.

Profile: T.J. Griffin

High School: Ocean Lakes (Virginia Beach, Va.)

Height/weight: 5-9, 167

Ranking: Rivals 2*, ESPN 3*, 247 2*

Additional offers: Wisconsin, Duke, Oregon, Wake Forest, West Virginia

The skinny:

For a 2 star prospect, Griffin's offer list is quite impressive. Oregon doesn't offer too many CBs who can't run. Griffin is actually listed as an Athlete, and could play CB or RB or even WR. The Hoos are bringing him in as a CB, though he will likely also get a chance to return kicks.

Griffin was a Wisconsin commit until the coaching change there. He joins his high school teammate Jahvoni Simmons as Ocean Lakes recruits.

Griffin is small. And that may be an understatement. For a football player, he is tiny. This is why many people see him on offense. He simply may not be big enough to cover bigger players, or to tackle them. The thing is, he plays a lot bigger than he is, and he's strong.

The video above is Griffin's senior year highlight film, via Hudl. There's a lot of clips of him running with the ball and making big plays. The plays where he's on defense, he shows a great ability to break on the ball. And he hits a lot harder than you'd expect.

Defensively, he's a cover CB. His lack of size makes it hard for him to get a good jam at the line, but he is so athletic that he can stick with a WR downfield. And he has a knack for making plays on the ball.

On offense, he's very quick and makes people miss. He has good hands as well. His route running needs work, which is part of why he's seen as a RB more than a WR. He's a bit of a TaQuan Mizzell type RB.