Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
Report: 2024 Four-Star Forward Schedules Official Visit to Virginia
One of Virginia's top recruiting targets in the class of 2024 will officially visit the Cavaliers in September. According to a report from Adam Zagoria on Tuesday (July 11), four-star power forward Matthew Hodge (Belmar, NJ) has scheduled five official visits, the last of which will be to UVA on September 21st.
Per Zagoria's report, Hodge will take official visits to Villanova on July 27th, Penn State on August 31st, Marquette on September 7th, Maryland on September 14th, and Virginia on September 21st. Hodge is also considering visits to Alabama, Virginia Tech, Xavier, Temple, Seton Hall, and Florida State, but he will reevaluate after the visit to Virginia, according to Hodge's father Odell, who was a star college basketball player at Old Dominion.
“We’re going through everything school by school and we’re going to prioritize everything after the Virginia visit and see if it’s necessary to take other visits,” Odell Hodge said in an interview with Adam Zagoria. “Every school that’s offered, we like them very much and it’s some good opportunities. It has to make sense and it has to be the right fit for Matt.”
There is an obvious benefit to being the final school to host a recruit, so the stage might be set for Tony Bennett and company to make those other visits unnecessary for Matthew Hodge.
A 6'8", 200-pound forward from St. Rose High School in Belmar, New Jersey, Hodge has seen his recruitment take off over the last couple of months, with Virginia joining a long line of major conference programs by extending an offer to him on June 29th. Since then, Hodge has added offers from Florida State and Pittsburgh and now boasts an impressive list of offers which includes Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Villanova, Penn State, Seton Hall, Florida State, Pittsburgh, Marquette, Virginia Tech, and Old Dominion.
The 247Sports Composite has Hodge rated as a four-star prospect as well as the No. 129 overall recruit in the class of 2024, the No. 27 power forward in the country, and the No. 5 recruit in the state of New Jersey. Those recruiting marks are likely to improve as Hodge has played well this summer for the PSA Cardinals, averaging 8.2 points per game last week at the Nike EYBL Peach Jam.
One of Virginia's top priorities on the recruiting trail is to add a forward to its recruiting class of 2024 to pair with four-star point guard Christian Bliss, who became the first verbal commit in UVA's recruiting class of 2024 on June 30th. Matthew Hodge is certainly near the top of that list for the Cavaliers.
Stay updated on all the latest Virginia basketball recruiting news, including offers, visits, and commitments here: Latest Virginia Basketball Recruiting News and Updates
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