Preparing for the football season, men’s basketball gets some recruiting love

With the Richmond game coming up on Saturday, we look at how senior captain Olamide Zaccheaus has prepared for one final go around, and at what coach Bronco Mendenhall wants to see in his third year. We also take a peek at the recruiting boards, which feature not one, but two Virginia Cavaliers commits in the ESPN 100 rankings. Also a shoutout to the students, who start classes today!

Olamide Zaccheaus gets ready for his senior season (Richmond-Times Dispatch)
Over the weekend, standout wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus chatted with Wes McElroy of the Richmond-Times Dispatch about training camp and his journey through UVA. Zaccheaus, who expects to be the Hoos' premier threat on offense, explains the "total effort" he's given in recent months, which included giving up the video game "Fortnite." You have to respect that.

Coach Mendenhall hopes to turn the corner in his third year (AP News)
With the Hoos starting up the season this weekend, Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall wants to see his team take it to another level. Through his first two seasons at the helm, Mendenhall has created a baseline for the team, leading Virginia to a bowl game for the first time since 2011. In the coming weeks, we'll see if the program can continue to improve as he hopes.

Morsell and Shedrick listed in top 70 of player rankings (ESPN)
In a recently updated version of ESPN's basketball recruiting list for the class of 2019, Virginia commits Casey Morsell and Kadin Shedrick were ranked at 47 and 70, respectively. For a program that often gets bashed for their inability to recruit, it appears Tony Bennett and the rest of the coaching staff are defying the narrative.

TOTD:

The UVA Men’s Basketball team competed in their annual players-coaches softball game on Monday. Ty Jerome led the way for his team, hitting four (!) home runs, en route to a sixth consecutive players victory. Not a bad stat line for the junior sharpshooter.