Virginia football lands national top-100 recruit Andrew Gentry

By Jerry Ratcliffe

It’s no wonder that Virginia offensive line coach Garett Tujague sat in the office at Columbine High School for four hours, waiting on Andrew Gentry to finish an AP World History exam.

“This coach stayed four hours, just so he could say ‘Hi’ to me,” Gentry said.

Gentry was worth the wait.

The 6-foot-8, 310-pound, 4-star offensive tackle from Littleton, Colo., announced Saturday that he committed to UVA. Gentry is a consensus Top 100 football recruit according to all the recruiting services.

He will undertake a two-year mission before starting his collegiate eligibility, just like his older brother, J.T.

Gentry had offers from 32 Power 5 programs, including 17 of the Associated Press preseason Top 25, seven of them in the Top 10. He chose Virginia over his other final five choices: Michigan, Notre Dame, Stanford and BYU (his brother, J.T., plays for the Cougars).

The other offers? Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Florida, Penn State, to name a few.

Clearly, Gentry was not only impressed with Virginia’s rise in college football, having played in the ACC Championship game last weekend and earning an invitation to the Orange Bowl, but also was impressed with UVA’s academic reputation. He owns a 4.33 GPA and a 1420 SAT score.

He is eligible to sign with the Cavaliers on Wednesday, the early National Signing Day.

COMMITTED!! #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/fgQL1VsSu9

— Andrew Gentry (@a_gentry75) December 14, 2019

Most services have him ranked as the top prospect in the state of Colorado, and all him him rated one of the country’s top overall recruits. Rivals ranks him No. 65 overall in the nation, while 247Sports rates him No. 60 overall, and ESPN No. 79 in the nation. Gentry’s commitment fills the void left when Northern Virginia’s Jimmy Christ (Sterling) flipped his commitment to Penn State. Christ is also a 4-star tackle.

Gentry is Virginia’s 12th commitment to this point.