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11 days after the recruiting period officially opened for the high school class of 2022, rising juniors, the University of Virginia has landed the first new (public) commitment of the class. Kamal Muhammad, who was originally part of the class of 2021 but who has reclassified to 2022.
Muhammad is the son of Sabir Muhammad, who was a 25-time All-American swimmer at Stanford. Sabir Muhammad broke 10 American Records in his career and won both silver and bronze at the 2000 World Short Course Swimming Championships.
Kamal Muhammad is one of two class swimmers who will enroll with the class of 2022 to announce decisions so far. The other, Holden Smith will take a gap year before enrolling at Alabama in the fall of 2022.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB67yrTg0Dx/
The class of 2022 it largely talking to coaches at this point without making visits to the campuses of the schools that they’re committing to. Because of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, a recruiting dead period, not allowing for on campus or off campus face-to-face visits with coaches, has been extended through at least August, and it seems more-and-more likely that on campus visits won’t happen at least through the fall.
On our original ranking in the high school class of 2021, following their sophomore season, Muhammad was listed as an honorable mention rank in our top 20. His times didn’t improve much through his junior year of high school, though, so this extra season will give him an opportunity to reverse that course.
Best Times in Yards:
- 50 free – 20.84
- 100 free – 44.58
- 200 free – 1:40.70
- 100 back – 51.38
- 200 back – 1:53.02
- 100 breast – 57.64
- 100 fly – 48.72
- 200 fly – 1:53.51
- 200 IM – 1:55.32
Muhammad is a versatile sprinter with his best swims to date coming in the sprint free and sprint fly events. Of the above-listed times, the only swim that came during his junior season of high school (2019-2020) is the 100 free, which was done in February at the Georgia High School State 6A-7A Championship meet.
At that meet, he finished 2nd individually in the 100 free (45.0) and 5th overall in the 50 free (21.1). His 44.5 in the 100 free came in prelims of the 100 free.
He also split 22.75 leading off Lakeside High School’s 200 medley relay.
For the Virginia men, who finished 2nd behind NC State at last season’s ACC Championship meet, the butterfly races were a weakness. The 24 points they scored in the 100 fly was their lowest-scoring event of the meet. They were a little better individually in the sprint freestyle events, though that was still overall a place where NC State made big margins on them – especially the 50 free, where there was a 23-point differential between the teams.
Muhammad’s best times are not yet quite at ACC scoring potential individually, but as 2022s begin to commit we’ll have to remember both that they lost the end of the 2019-2020 season, and that they still have 2 full seasons before arriving in college.
The Virginia men had the 9th-ranked recruiting class of 2020 and have also received commitments from 3 of the top 20 swimmers in the class of 2021.
Muhammad trains with Spartans Aquatic Club in Atlanta.
If you have a commitment to report, please send an email with a photo (landscape, or horizontal, looks best) and a quote to [email protected].
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Can we get more specific information on the likelihood of no official visits this fall? That would be a game-changer if recruits can’t visit at all (or just official visits?)
Right now it’s dunzo through August 31st. They made that change in the last 10 days. Coaches better get good at virtual tours and Zoom.
Many of these recruits have not swam a single taper meet since December. Do coaches really want to move forward quickly without seeing the Fall season?
What are their choices? Fall season could be minimal at this point and as of today, the early signing period isn’t moved back (having said that, some in b-ball circles are asking for that to happen)
Input from club coaches will be more of a factor than ever, IMO.
The early signing period doesn’t matter. None of these 2021 commits have signed anything. Some of them committed last Fall and won’t be signing until later this Fall.
Input from club coaches is great, but this goes both ways. I wouldn’t want to commit anywhere without visiting. And I wouldn’t want to award scholarships without seeing recent results.
I hear ya but i think kids are gonna feel like they are in a game of musical chairs with offers that might not be around in the winter/spring (true or not true, doesn’t really matter)
No playbook for this year.
Sabir Muhammad was one of my all time favorite Stanford swimmers. And a great gentleman as well. He was especially awesome at the 1998 NCAAs in Auburn in the individual events and relays. Helped his team to win the NCAA title by 200 points over Auburn in their home pool. Good luck to his son for some fast swimming!
This dude is way too big to be reclassified to 2022
lol
Wonder if he considered a legacy spot at Stanford.
I’m sure at one point in time yes he did consider it to some capacity.
He didn’t get admitted to Stanford for 2021, so reclassified for 2022
How do you know? I haven’t seen any Stanford 2021 verbals yet.
Seems like the guys who have reclassified are special cases
Can someone please explain to me what reclassifying means? how does one go from the class of 2021 to the class of 2022?
I assume the young man will take a gap year after graduating HS in 2021 and get to UVA for the 22–23 season.
Thank you
But does that mean he only has four years to swim his four eligible years rather than the ability to red shirt one year for whatever reason. I believe that is the case based on the NCAA rules, but can anyone confirm? Wonder if it was his or DeSorbo’s idea to reclassify. They seemed pretty full in ‘21 and ‘22 seems a lot more of a middle distance / 4IM class and softer in sprinters.
I’m guessing but i don’t think he goes there and redshirts in 2021.
As long as he doesn’t enroll in any classes his year after high school, he will still have 5 years to complete 4 (still has a redshirt year). His eligibility clock starts the second he enrolls in a college level course, but he is only allowed one gap year.
Great early pick up for UVA! This kid’s potential is outstanding! Congrats Kamal! UVA recruiting already turning heads in the next class!😳
Early? Haha. Not exactly. He is just a normal class of 2021 recruit who decided to defer to 2022.
Congrats Kamal.