Virginia Makes Top Five for Former Ohio State Commit George Washington III

Former Ohio State commit and four-star class of 2023 recruit George Washington III (Dayton, OH) released a new top five on Tuesday morning and Virginia made the cut along with Louisville, Dayton, Michigan, and Wake Forest.

2023 four-star George Washington III, a former Ohio State commit, is down to five schools, he tells @On3Recruits.

He breaks down each of his finalists: https://t.co/CCUP3LuXxq pic.twitter.com/INov7wcQZz
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) September 20, 2022

Washington, a 6'2" shooting guard originally from Louisville, committed to Ohio State back in November of 2021. He moved to Dayton, Ohio to play his senior of high school basketball at Chaminade Julienne.

Washington was the first to commit in Ohio State's recruiting class of 2023 last fall, but the Buckeyes have since added three more commits this year, including two in the month of August. Although none of those commits were guards, the Buckeyes have been very publicly and aggressively in pursuit of other guards in the class of 2023. Those recruits include four-star Taison Chatman, who also has Virginia in his final cut and is set to announce his decision on Tuesday night, and Bronny James, the son of LeBron James.

Update: Taison Chatman announced his commitment to Ohio State on Tuesday night.

Chatman, James, and Washington were all in Columbus on official visits on the weekend of September 3rd when the Buckeyes hosted Notre Dame in football. Two days later, George Washington III announced that he was decommitting from Ohio State and reopening his recruitment.

pic.twitter.com/mtxMVkZtK7
— George Washington lll (@3dubbshoop) September 5, 2022

UVA reached out immediately and has been in contact with Washington consistently since then. Washington, who visited Virginia during his initial recruitment last fall, had planned a zoom call with Tony Bennett for Monday night, but now it is being reported that Bennett will be visiting Washington in person on Tuesday.

Virginia’s Tony Bennett and an assistant will be in today for Top-50 senior George Washington III, he told @Stockrisers. They had originally planned a zoom call for yesterday, instead, will see him in-person today. https://t.co/9EIhLZcfZz
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) September 20, 2022

“Coach (Tony) Bennett is a Hall-of-Fame coach. He’s one of the best to do it and they’re a top ACC school," Washington told On3's Joe Tipton.

A four-star prospect, George Washington III is listed as the No. 106 overall player in the class of 2023 per 247Sports as well as the No. 18 shooting guard in the nation and the No. 2 recruit in the state of Ohio. The 247 industry composite rankings have Washington at No. 76 overall and the No. 9 shooting guard in the country.

Virginia is hoping to land at least one more verbal commit in the class of 2023 to join four-stars Blake Buchanan (Coeur D'Alene, ID) and Elijah Gertrude (Jersey City, NJ). In addition to George Washington III, UVA has made the most recent cut lists for:

SF Andrej Stojakovic (Carmichael, CA)
CG Elmarko Jackson (South Kent, CT)
SG Davin Cosby (Richmond, VA)
SG Taison Chatman (Minneapolis, MN)

Update: Taison Chatman announced his commitment to Ohio State on Tuesday night.

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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