Virginia snags 16th high-school commitment with Tampa 3-star DE Jones

By Jerry Ratcliffe

What better way to cap off a recruiting dinner for a high school defensive end than to get a scholarship offer from Chris Slade?

Slade, a former UVA and NFL star pass rusher, now a defensive coach on the Cavaliers’ staff, presented Tampa high school prospect DJ Jones an offer after dinner on Saturday night in Charlottesville. Jones accepted, but didn’t announce his commitment to the Cavaliers until Monday.

Jones is a 6-foot-4, 230-pound edge rusher out of Hillsborough High in Tampa, Fla. A 3-star by 247Sports, Jones chose Virginia over Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa State, South Florida and Temple, among others.

He is rated the 108th-best defensive-end prospect in the country according to the 247 composite rankings and the No. 179 overall prospect in the state of Florida.

Jones is UVA’s 16th high-school commitment thus far for the recruiting class of 2023. See below for the complete list of high school commitments.

1000000% COMMITTED 🔵🟠 #GodIsGood @CoachChrisSlade @jsperos @Coach_Stalker @Coach_TElliott @RWrightRivals @MohrRecruiting @adamgorney @HHSFootball7 @TeamTampa813 @flygirlprod @UVAFootball @JacquieFran_ pic.twitter.com/JmQUjcds3g

— DJ “SHOWTIME” Jones (@DJJONES81) December 12, 2022