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uva recruiting WHERE THERE'S 'SMOKE,' THERE'S VIRGINIA FOOTBALL BY JACEY ZEMBAL Taquan "Smoke" Mizzell was considered the one in-state senior recruit that Virginia had to land, and the Cavaliers locked up his verbal com- mitment Aug. 21. Rivals.com ranks the 5-10, 183-pounder from Virginia Beach Bayside High as a five-star prospect, the fourth-best player in the state, the No. 1 all-purpose back in the nation and the No. 20 over- all player in the class of 2013. The Cavaliers have landed five of the top 30 players in Virginia and were No. 18 in the country in the Rivals.com team recruiting rankings as of Sept. 12. UVa entered mid- September ranked fourth in the ACC behind No. 11 Florida State, No. 13 Clemson and No. 17 Virginia Tech. Mizzell's commitment gives "I watch their games, and it feels like they run their offense through their running backs," Miz- zell said. "They get their playmakers the ball. They tell me how they use Perry Jones now. That would be a perfect fit for me." Mizzell is glad the recruiting process is over, noting North Carolina came in second and West Virginia third for him. "It has calmed down a lot, and I'm not getting phone calls every day now," Mizzell said. "A lot of people have said they aren't recruiting me anymore, but some colleges are still re- cruiting." Mizzell, who rushed for Rivals.com rates Virginia football commitment Taquan "Smoke" Miz- zell as the No. 1 all-purpose back and No. 20 overall player in the nation. head coach Mike London the first five-star player he has landed at Virginia and a centerpiece to build around for the class of 2013. "Coach London is by far the best head coach that I met," Mizzell said. "It's close to home and just a perfect fit for me. Making the decision wasn't that hard. "I knew for a while that would be the place I wanted to go to, but I wanted to go through the process to make sure." Mizzell loved the way he fit into Virginia's offense. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM 1,098 yards and 23 touchdowns while playing through an ankle injury his junior year, felt a sense of pride of representing his home area at Virginia. Hav- ing former Bayside teammates such as second-year outside linebacker Henry Coley, second-year cornerback Demetrius Nicholson and first-year strong safety Anthony Cooper in Charlottesville also helped. "My family wanted me to stay close, and they are proud that I'm a Cavalier," said Mizzell, who attended the season opener against Richmond Sept. 1. "A lot of people at the season opener no- ticed who I was. Before the game started, I had a lot of fans come up to me and say, 'I'm so happy you picked UVa.' A couple people after the game talked about how they wished they had asked for CAVALIER CORNER ◆ OCTOBER 2012 ◆ 45