Why 4-Star OL Josey picked Virginia over Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Stanford

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Four-star offensive lineman Noah Josey had his pick of just about every major college football powerhouse in the country.

Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State, Stanford and Michigan all offered Josey, who stands 6-foot-5, 290 pounds, and can play any position on the offensive line. The Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, Tenn.) standout narrowed his final list to Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Stanford and Virginia.

He recently committed to Virginia, which really surprised a lot of Georgia fans, who expected a Josey commitment.

Josey, an excellent student who truly values academics and life after football, made an educated choice in committing to UVA.

He had to look no further than his own father, Brad, who was an offensive lineman at Vanderbilt and has built a solid career after football was long gone.

“That speaks volumes about how far football can take you,” Noah Josey said during an appearance on The Jerry Ratcliffe Show last week on WINA and ESPN-Charlottesville radio. Josey was speaking about how his dad used football to get a great education and solidify his future.

That certainly helped Virginia beat the other football powers for Josey’s future services.

“One thing a lot of my coaches have told me was, ‘Do you want to be part of something or do you want to start something?’” Josey said, in reference to joining a Virginia program that has been on the rise.

“My dad said that four or five years down the road, you can’t take those national championships with you into the real world,” Josey said. “I thought that was a pretty big deal.”

You can listen to the entire Josey interview by clicking here.

Josey, who likes to describe his style of play as a “road grader,” said that Virginia was one of his first offers and he really appreciated that. He developed a strong relationship with UVA offensive line coach Garrett Tujague.

“[Tujague] thinks I have good length for a guard and a great football IQ,” Josey said of his future position coach. “Really one of my big things going through the recruiting process was conversations with those guys (Tujague and head coach Bronco Mendenhall), and going where I know I will be loved by people that enjoy being around each other. It’s not that way everywhere … I’ve seen that.”

As for Georgia, where many of the Bulldogs’ fans believed Josey was a shoo-in to play between the hedges, it just didn’t offer everything the big lineman was looking for.

“I had a really good relationship with the coaches down there,” Josey said. “It came down to opportunities after football for me and they really couldn’t fill my needs at that point.”