Big tight end picks Virginia over Virginia Tech, Southern Cal and Mississippi

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia football has landed its first commitment for the Class of 2022.

Karson Gay, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound tight end from Boyd Buchanan School in Chattanooga, Tenn., announced his commitment Saturday afternoon on his Twitter account.

He chose Virginia over Virginia Tech, Southern Cal, Ole Miss, Indiana, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Purde, Arkansas and BYU.

“I want to say thank you to my parents and family for helping me and going through this entire recruiting process,” Gay wrote. “Thank you to everyone at Boyd Buchanan from Coach Bosken and Coach Templeton to all my teammates and teachers for pushing me every day.

“It was always a dream of mine to play college football. To receive scholarship offers from some of the most prestigious schools in the country has been great. To be able to build relationships and talk with so many wonderful individuals and coaches has been amazing. Thank you to Coach (Robert) Anae and Coach (Evan) Butts for making this decision easy and making me feel like family.

“With all that being said, I am extremely happy to say that I am committing to the University of Virginia!”

Anae is UVA’s offensive coordinator and Butts is a former tight end, now graduate assistant coach for Bronco Mendenhall’s program.

Gay is rated a 3-star by both 247Sports and Rivals.

He fits the proto-type tight end that Mendenhall likes in his offense, looking back at 6-7 Tony Poljan this past season and to Jelani Woods, the former Oklahoma State starting tight end (also 6-7), who announced in December that he would transfer to Virginia.