Virginia football adds another defensive back to 2020 recruiting class

There are just six days left in June, and the Virginia Cavaliers are apparently in a hurry to fill up their 2020 recruiting class before the Fourth of July.

Florida cornerback Dave Herard became UVA’s fifth commit in the month of June—and fourth in just the past nine days—when he announced his decision on Twitter early Tuesday afternoon.

Herard stands six feet tall and weighs in at 165 pounds (a bit on the small side for a UVA defensive back). His other Power Five offers include Boston College, Utah, Syracuse, and Indiana; Herard boasts three Ivy League offers as well. 247 and Rivals both rate him as a mid-three star prospect—247 as a cornerback, Rivals as a safety—and the 247 Composite lists Herard in the top 150 players for 2020 coming out of talent-rich Florida.

Herard’s best rep on this film is an early clip in press coverage: he fights off the wide receiver slapping him in the face, then gets into the receiver’s body and forces him rudely out of bounds within five yards of the line of scrimmage. That works well with Mendenhall’s aggressive defense. His tackling clips look serviceable but will need to improve, especially if Herard moves to a safety or nickel/slot corner role.

In addition to his football prowess, Herard helped lead his high school basketball team to the Florida 6A state title this past season. That puts him in good company at UVA: 2019 second round NFL Draft pick Juan Thornhill led Altavista to basketball state titles before coming to Charlottesville, going viral with some of his massive dunks.

Herard is the 10th overall commit in UVA’s 2020 class, and third defensive back (joining four-star Bud Clark and three-star Donovan Johnson). Without either attrition or too-good-to-pass-up talent looking to commit—or possibly even both—don’t expect Virginia to add more defensive backs to this year’s class.