Virginia to Host Four-Star Point Guard Trent Perry for Official Visit
Virginia has yet to take make its first big recruiting splash of the offseason, but that could change soon as the Cavaliers are set to host a major high school recruiting target this weekend. Class of 2024 four-star point guard and former USC commit Trent Perry will reportedly be taking a visit to Virginia this upcoming weekend.
A little over a week ago, we wrote about how Trent Perry could be a potential solution to Virginia's point guard void with Reece Beekman departing for the NBA Draft and no reliable succession plan in place. At the time, UVA was only mentioned as one of the many schools who had reached out to Perry since he decommitted from USC after head coach Andy Enfield left to take the job at SMU. Other schools mentioned as having been in contact with Perry are Alabama, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford, Villanova, Gonzaga, Oklahoma, Tennessee, TCU, and others, so the competition is stiff to say the least.
But so far, Trent Perry has only scheduled an official visit with one program: Virginia.
Virginia was initially a top candidate for Perry's recruitment the first time around and Perry even said this about Tony Bennett in an interview with On3 last summer:
"It's Tony Bennett. He's a legendary coach, honestly. He won a national championship and he played in the league. Coach Bennett knows how to develop guards, guys like Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy. He's also had West Coast guys like London Perrantes and Kihei Clark. I have a great relationship with the staff and it's pretty comfortable knowing that they want West Coast kids and they've been pretty successful there."
Perry was originally going to visit Virginia, but changed plans after Christian Bliss committed and he ultimately pledged to USC last October. Now, Perry is back on the market after a coaching change at USC and he's giving the Cavaliers the first swing at landing his commitment.
This is a massive opportunity for Tony Bennett and company, as Perry is one of the most talented recruits available in this recruiting cycle. A consensus four-star recruit and top 50 overall prospect in the class of 2024 across each of the major recruiting services, ESPN has Perry ranked as the No. 26 overall recruit in the country.
In his senior season at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles, the 6'4" point guard averaged 18.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists en route to being named the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of California. Perry played in the McDonald's All American Game, won the three-point shooting contest, and participated in the Nike Hoop Summit last week.
Virginia's case to Perry will be simple. There is an avenue for him to earn lots of early playing time at UVA due to the uncertainty at the team's point guard position. Reece Beekman is gone, ending a stretch of a decade-plus where the Cavaliers always knew who their next starting point guard was going to be. The only two point guards currently on the roster are Dante Harris, who struggled in a backup PG role last season after transferring from Georgetown, and Christian Bliss, a talented player with a high ceiling, but who spent most of his redshirt season in a walking boot and will likely not be ready to take over the starting job in his first season of college basketball.
Tony Bennett can also point to the examples of London Perrantes and Kihei Clark, two California native point guards who were regular starters right from their freshmen seasons and who went on to have successful All-ACC careers in their time at Virginia.
Expect Bennett and the Cavaliers to do all they can to get a commitment from Perry this weekend.
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