State’s No. 1 prospect, Ament of Manassas, gets dream Virginia offer

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Posted on Monday, Jul. 24, 2023, 4:52 pm

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By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photo: InsideNoVa.com

The No. 1 prospect in the state of Virginia for the recruiting class of 2025 said last month that one of his “dream offers” would be from Tony Bennett’s UVA program. Well, that offer was made official, Nate Ament confirmed on social media on Monday.

Ament, a 6-foot-7, 4-star small forward from Manassas, is a player that Virginia associate head coach Jason Williford has been on since day one of the June evaluation period and has built a strong relationship with the highly sought after blue-chipper.

Having transferred from Colgan HS to Highland HS, Avent has received offers from UVA, Wake Forest, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Penn State, Providence, Virginia Tech, ODU, VCU and others. He has already unofficially visited Virginia but said he wants to make a return official visit, and would also like to visit Indiana.

Ament was asked by Matthew Hatfield of VirginiaPreps.com if he had any dream offers, and the prospect answered Virginia and Kentucky. UVA made one of those dreams come true.

He is rated the No. 1 prospect in the state by both On3 and 247Sports. Nationally in his class, Ament is highly regarded, ranked No. 22 overall at any position in the country in ‘25 by 247, No. 27 overall by On3. He is 247’s No. 3 small forward in the nation and No. 7 on On3’s list at that position.

“I can guard positions 1 through 5 and I can shoot,” Ament told Hatfield after one of his EYBL games for Team Loaded.

An inside-out threat, Ament can create on his own, post up for a shot and welcomes physicality. No wonder Williford has been all over the Northern Virginia prospect since the evaluation period began in mid-June.

Ament said he believes he would be a good fit for Virginia’s system and thinks he could be either a 2 or a 3 for whatever program he chooses.

“I’m going to be looking at player development,” Ament told Jamie Shaw of On3. “I want to keep getting better once I get to a college, so a school that can develop me as a player will be big. Me being able to play multiple positions, I want to play for a coach who knows how to use my versatility.”

Seems like Virginia needs to put Ament into contact with recent commit Christian Bliss, who wanted similar features from his school selection. Bliss was totally convinced on Virginia after a conversation with former UVA star Ty Jerome of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With Team Loaded, Ament has had a solid offseason, averaging a team-high 15.4 points per game and shooting 38 percent from the 3-point arc.

“I’ve gotten used to the physicality of the game,” he told On3. “I’m able to embrace the bumps and be able to get to my spots in the mid-range and the paint.”

Virginia hasn’t signed many players from the Commonwealth in the Bennett era, but has already offered two from the ‘25 class — Ament and Charlottesville’s Chance Mallory, a point guard from St. Anne’s-Belfield.

For a complete chart of all future players Virginia has offered, see below, and for profiles on all players Bennett has offered in recent weeks (several players from the ‘25 class in the last week), see related articles on this site in our basketball archives.