Tiquest Terry has not exactly been a regular visitor to Charlottesville over the past couple of years.
Working in trips from Blacksburg, where his schedule is often overflowing as a high school student-athlete is not always easy. But the trips he did make up to the University of Virginia were evidently productive.
This weekend’s visit included Terry telling the Cavaliers that he had seen enough of both the campus and football program and would commit to play football at UVa following his senior season at Blacksburg High School.
“We’re pretty pumped about it,” Terry said about he and his family. “This is the right decision.”
Terry first made his decision known with a tweet late Saturday afternoon. He posted a photo where he posed with the UVa coaching staff and stated he “followed through with [his] heart,” and that the Cavaliers “have everything I need and more for me to become a good football player but an even better man!”
He later said in a phone interview on Saturday that while the football was an important part, the coaching staff impressed him with what they had to say about his off-the-field traits.
“They told me they liked me as a person, which was something I really like hearing,” he said. “They would always bring that up, and I do care about how I represent myself. And I think they noticed that.”
He said he will not have a decided major when he arrives in Charlottesville after graduating from Blacksburg, but he spent a good amount of time on Saturday meeting with an academic adviser that helped him plan things out in advance of his enrollment.
The Cavaliers are getting one of Timesland’s most versatile football players in Terry, who has played a key role in the past two years for the Bruins.
Despite having to share touches with another Division I prospect — Virginia Tech-bound Cole Beck — Terry piled up the offensive numbers.
During Blacksburg’s Group 3A state championship run, Terry was named Timesland’s offensive Sizzlin’ Sophomore, making 70 catches for 1,165 yards and 11 TDs, along with 494 yards rushing and four TDs on 76 carries.
In the postseason, Terry had 21 receptions for 394 yards and four TDs. He capped the year by first scoring the game-tying TD on a 58-yard pass reception in the 3A final against Staunton River, then set up the insurance TD on defense with an interception.
It was more of the same in 2017, as Blacksburg moved up a division into the new Class 4. Terry caught 36 passes for 592 yards and 11 TDs on the way to earning first-team All-Timesland again, and also being named to the Class 4 all-state second team. He showed additional versatility by returning four kickoffs for touchdowns.
“I’m a slot receiver, and that’s a position they use a lot,” Terry said. “And it’s somewhere that I can both catch passes and run the ball, and that’s what I’m most effective at doing.”
By the end of his junior football season, Terry already had scholarship offers from Virginia and Wake Forest. He said on Saturday that in addition to his multiple trips to Virginia, he also recently visited Virginia Tech.
He had planned to make a trip later this month to Temple, he said, but canceled that when it was becoming clear to him that Virginia was where he wanted to go.
“I didn’t know when I would finally commit to a school,” Terry said. “But then I figured [UVa] had everything that I wanted, and I really couldn’t ask for much more.
“So why not go ahead and make the decision.”
Terry said the relationship between he and the UVa coaching staff was good from the start of the recruiting process. On the football side of things, the coaches told him they saw him as someone who could play a role in the Cavaliers’ offense similar to that of rising senior slot back Olamide Zaccheaus, who broke a school record in 2017 for single-season receptions, but has also been used at times during his career to run the ball, as well as return kickoffs and punts.
“That attracts me a lot when they tell me that,” Terry said. “I’m going to be able to go from running back to slot and even wide receiver. So I’ll be able to do a lot of things.”
Terry said before starting formal preparations for UVa, he and the veteran members of the Blacksburg football team will be preparing for a challenging season that will include getting to know a new head coach, and working with a nearly new offensive line.
“We have a lot of experience at receiver and quarterback,” Terry said. “The seniors are going to have find within themselves to bring the fight, even though there will be changes.”
Terry is also looking forward to spending one more year in “enemy territory.” As you might expect, Terry said the Blacksburg student body tends to be partial to the hometown Hokies.
“I told him I’m going to bring the UVa colors into the school,” he joked. “That will be a little new.”