Familiarity and resonation are often goals for college football coaches to try to present to top recruits, and sometimes it just clicks.
It’s part of the reason reigning state champion and class of 2025 Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep tight end Justin Zames came off the board with a commitment to Virginia on Friday.
“On my visit to UVA I felt like I was surrounded by coaches and players like I have at Berkeley Prep,” Zames told Rivals. “Everyone was focused on being great teammates and making the program great.
“I love how dialed in the coaches and players were and how high the expectations were for the future of the program.”
Armed with scholarship offers throughout the Ivy League and the FBS, the balanced tight end prospect will play his college football in the ACC. Of course Virginia is also high-academic, so the call-backs to Berkeley Prep continued with the more time he spent in Charlottesville.
“Coach (Des) Kitchings and I have been talking and texting all the time over the past six months and I feel like we have an amazing relationship and I cannot wait to play for him!” Zames said. “And Coach (Tony) Elliot reminds me so much of (Berkeley Prep) Coach (Dominick) Ciao because he focuses on making his players better people and having the program do things the right way.”
The tight end projection, who Ciao calls “tough and physical” among high compliments on character, becomes the sixth pledge for Elliot in the class of 2025. Five of the current Virginia commitments, like Zames, are projected to play on offense at the next level.
As a junior in 2023, Zames helped Brekeley Prep take home its first state championship as a two-way player up front.
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John Garcia Jr., National Recruiting Analyst
