Doughty College Notebook: Recruiting plan makes sense for Maroons

“We’re spending just as much time in Virginia as we do North Carolina,” Nunley said, “but I’d also tell you that there’s more competition in Virginia because there’s more [colleges].”

Of the 12 colleges that play basketball in the ODAC, only Guilford, from Greensboro, N.C., is from outside Virginia.

“The state is pretty saturated with a lot of colleges at our level,” Nunley said. “We try to make sure we recruit our backyard and recruit the state but also recruit outside the area, too.”

A big catch for the Maroons this year was point guard Nick Price, who set career records for assists and steals at Roanoke’s Northside High School.

North Carolinians included 6-foot Trip Greene from Greensboro Day School, 6-6 Brett Swilling from United Faith Christian in Charlotte, 5-11 Charlie Mendys from Durham Academy and 6-7 Darius Robinson from Northern High School in Durham.

“I like the class,” Nunley said. “We still might have one or two additions. What I like about this class is, these guys are all coming from winning programs.”

The ancestral lines aren’t bad either. Brett Swilling’s father, Ken, played on the Georgia Tech football team that shared the 1990 national championship with Colorado.

Second chance

Former Patrick Henry High School and University of Virginia punter Nicholas Conte, a first-team All-ACC selection in 2016, has accepted an invitation to a Washington Redskins minicamp that will be held Friday through Sunday.

Conte worked out for the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals last season but said he has gotten much stronger in the past year, completing 16 repetitions on a 225-pound bench press after not doing more than six at a time in college.

“That’s not as important for a punter but it showed the work that I’ve been putting in,” said Conte, who also worked out for NFL scouts at UVa’s pro day. “Because I’ve gotten stronger, I’m hitting a better ball, a higher ball, so I get better hang time and distance.”

The Redskins’ punter for the past four seasons has been Tress Way. Conte speaks highly of Way and doesn’t necessarily view him as the competition.

“I think teams have to [reveal] who they bring to minicamp,” Conte said. “And coaches talk, from what I understand. I’ve had a lot more time to train and focus specifically on punting.

“I haven’t had to worry about school. It’s a great opportunity for me and hopefully something will come out of it.”

Swimming

Doug Fonder, long-time head coach of the Gators’ year-round swim program in Roanoke, predicts that new Virginia Tech men’s and women’s swim coach Sergio Lopez Miro will have an instant impact, particularly in the recruiting of international swimmers.

“I bet that 50 percent of the top eight [swimmers] at the NCAAs, particularly among the men, are foreigners,” Fonder said. “He knows so many people. He’s from Spain. He coached in Singapore. He’s got a pretty good foreign track record.”

In his most recent bio on the sports website at Auburn, Lopez Miro was listed as Sergio Lopez and that’s also how he’s referred to on swimswam.com, a popular swimming website.

Scott Thacker, preparing for his second season as the men’s and women’s swim coach at Roanoke College, said he is expecting 27 freshmen for the fall.

Newcomers will include Brian Grimmett and Sutton Schonfelder off Jefferson Forest’s Class 4 state championship boys team.

Thacker also has a commitment from Lizzy Braud off the JF girls team and Ben Tate from Southwest Virginia Home School.

Recruiting

Oak Hill Academy basketball coach Steve Smith confirmed that former Warriors standout Braxton Key, who has received a release from Alabama, was at Virginia on Wednesday on a recruiting visit.

Key, described by Smith as “one of my favorite players,” is planning to go from UVa to Miami.

He would have two years of eligibility starting with the 2019-20 season.