Virginia beats out Carolina, Florida and Tech for 4-Star OT Taylor

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Sometimes being first in line works out best. That was the case with Virginia’s newest commitment in 4-star offensive tackle Logan Taylor, a 6-foot-8, 290-pound standout from Alexandria’s Episcopal.

Taylor, originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, announced his commitment to the Cavaliers on his Twitter account Friday. UVA was the first of many Power Five schools to offer him a scholarship.

In fact, Taylor transferred to Episcopal High in the summer of 2019, and received an offer when he made a trip to Charlottesville for the Cavaliers’ season-opener against Old Dominion (Sept. 21). Bronco Mendenhall immediately made an offer and his quick decision paid dividends.

The 4-star tackle chose the Wahoos over North Carolina and Florida, but had received offers from many more programs, including Penn State, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Miami, Arizona, Northwestern, Pitt, Purdue, Ole Miss and a host of others.

This is a huge get for Mendenhall’s staff for numerous reasons.

First of all, Taylor is a 4-Star and UVA has only one other player rated that high (outside linebacker Josh McCarron, of Everett, WA). Secondly, even though he is originally from Canada, he is still an in-state recruit of sorts by playing at Episcoal, and Virginia needs to establish a stronger presence within the state borders. Thirdly, the Cavaliers couldn’t afford to lose another important in-state recruit to North Carolina, which has already lured 5-star corner Tony Grimes from the 757 to Chapel Hill.

Because Taylor has acclimated to the state via Episcopal, he felt comfortable committing his future academic and athletic careers to UVA. The fact that the NCAA halted athletes taking in-person visits to schools through August, Taylor already knew what an offer from UVA was worth.

C O M M I T T E D🔸⚔️🔹 #THEStandard21 #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/IxtJWkgOx8

— Logan Taylor (@LoganTaylor77) July 17, 2020

He is rated as the No. 23 offensive tackle prospect in the nation by 247Sports Composite.

“He is the most coachable kid I’ve ever seen,” Episcopal coach Mark Moroz told Brian Dohn of 247Sports. “I tell him something once and he will implement it and use it right away. 

“I’ve coached a lot of good linemen and he is, by far, the best lineman I’ve ever seen at the high-school level. A guy that I personally coached or played against. He’s the best lineman I’ve seen in high school.”

Moroz said that he believes four or five years at UVA will turn Taylor into something akin to a 6-8, 320-pound, athletic monster.

As a junior at Episcopal, the big Canadian was named to the VISAA Division 1 first-team, all-state squad.

Taylor is UVA’s third commitment by an offensive lineman, including the Georgia duo of Charlie Patterson (Roswell) and Ty Furnish (also Roswell). With the departure of Ja’Quay Hubbard and the retirement of Martin Weisz, look for Mendenhall and O-Line coach Garrett Tujague to seek one or two more linemen to the recruiting Class of 2021.

Virginia now has 18 commitments for the ‘21 class.