Colorado running back decommits from Virginia

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The portal giveth and the portal taketh away.

Virginia’s running back room got a little smaller on Wednesday when former Colorado running back Isaiah Augustave announced on his Twitter-X account that he had decommitted from UVA and is reopening his recruitment. Augustave never enrolled at Virginia due to an issue with his academic credits and thus was not eligible to become a Cavalier.

He led pass-happy Colorado’s running attack last season with a mere 384 yards rushing on 85 attempts (4 touchdowns), but was expected to compete for playing time at Virginia after committing on April 20. Augustave’s departure leaves the Cavaliers with Xavier Brown and two transfer running backs, J’Mari Taylor of NC Central and Harrison Waylee from Wyoming.

Wahoo fans will remember the firestorm from Colorado coach Deion Sanders, who went on a rant after Augustave left the program and Virginia was involved with another Buffaloes player, defensive back Carter Stoutmire. Sanders was so perturbed that he called out UVA and accused the Cavaliers of tampering on a video that went public.

“Carter got offered a bag,” Sanders said on camera, surrounded by his team. Sanders looked at Stoutmire and said, “What’s the school that offered you the bag?”

Stoutmire answered, “Virginia.”

“Where my camera at?” Sanders then said. “Virginia, you got to stop. I’ll let you have one (Augustave). I ain’t saying nothing about it. Come on, now. Come on. We let you have one. I ain’t saying nothing about it.”

Augustave visited UVA that same day and committed shortly after. Augustave was a 4-star running back in high school back in Naples, Fla., and ranked the No. 19 running back prospect in the country in the recruiting class of 2023.