After making his second trip to Charlottesville in as many months, 2016 New Jersey tight end Christian Baumgardner has seen all that he needed to see.
On Thursday afternoon, the 6-4, 240 pound Baumgardner became the 20th member of the class of 2016 to commit to the Virginia football program.
Baumgardner selected UVa over offers from UConn and Old Dominion among others. The Ocean City (NJ) product is the second tight end to commit to Virginia in 2016, joining Alexandria native Andrew Trainer.
The Wahoos have been recruiting the tight end position hard lately, taking two TEs each in the last two classes.
Baumgardner played both defensive end and tight end for Ocean City High School, but is being recruited for the offensive side of the ball.
As seen on the film above, Baumgardner has pretty solid hands and can muscle his way to yards after contact. Being a defensive end in addition to TE, Baumgardner is no stranger to contact, and can be a powerful blocker at the point of attack.
Baumgardner is already 240 pounds before his 18th birthday, and has likely two more years to add size before he sees the field at the college level. Virginia fans will see this season with Stanford transfer Charlie Hopkins how important a blocking tight end is to springing the running backs. In addition to bulking up the offensive line, the staff is also looking to the tight ends to open up the power runner running game.
From a blocking and depth standpoint, this is a good pickup for the program.