COMMITMENT: Terry Kirby’s son Tekai commits to Virginia football as 2023 tight end

As the Virginia Cavaliers’ football coaching staff continues to build its 2023 class, the program has its sixth commit in the 2023 group with tight end Tekai Kirby announcing his commitment today. The son of former Wahoo great Terry Kirby, Tekai will come to Charlottesville from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

The younger Kirby is an admittedly raw prospect. He only has two career high school receptions for 17 yards and one touchdown with the score coming in a 62-0 win. Granted, Kirby played behind LSU commit Mason Taylor so will ideally see far more usage in his senior season. As for his measurables, Kirby stands at 6’3” and weighs in at 210 pounds while he’s also spent time running varsity track at St. Thomas Aquinas.

Kirby recently attended UVA football’s camp with his commitment a clear result of that visit to Charlottesville. While still fairly unknown as a player, Kirby now slots in as a 247 three star and ranked as the 69th best tight end in the country.

As previously mentioned, the Kirby name is a big deal in UVA sports history. From 1989 to 1992, Terry Kirby played running back for Virginia and left the program having left a serious mark.

His 3,348 rushing yards set a program record at the time while he also racked up the most yards on the ground in the ACC in both 1990 and 1992. Of course, he was dangerous as a pass catcher out of the backfield as well and led UVA in receptions in 1991 and 1992 as he ranks fifth all time at UVA for all-purpose yards. That laundry list of successes resulted in Kirby’s jersey being retired. Kirby would then go on to have a fairly successful NFL career from 1993 to 2002.

It’s exciting to see that legacy carried on at UVA in Tekai who seems poised to outperform expectations.