Cavs add defensive end Renfrow to class

By Jay Jenkins

Published: June 26, 2008

With numerous eye-popping offers coming almost daily, Justin Renfrow elected to follow in the footsteps of Sean Singletary.
Well, sort of.
Renfrow, a 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end from William Penn Charter in Philadelphia committed today, becoming the 17th player to orally join the Class of 2009.
Singletary, who also attended William Penn Charter, played football in high school as a wideout before enjoying a highlight-filled basketball career at Virginia.
Renfrow, a three-star recruit, boasted offers from Stanford, West Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, Duke and Temple, and discussed playing tight end with coaches from Miami and Louisville. As a junior last season, the two-way standout had 56 tackles and eight sacks.
“Virginia had been my No. 1 school since my freshman year,” Renfrow said.
At that point, Renfrow had visions of tossing down two-handed dunks in John Paul Jones Arena.
“Virginia was the place that I wanted to go for basketball,” he added. “I would say at the end of my sophomore year that changed when I did the national underclassmen combine and that was my first combine ever.
“I made it in the top 100 and that is when I realized it would be football.”
Renfrow said he landed his scholarship offer last Thursday from Virginia after attending the Cavaliers’ camp. During many of the sessions he worked closely with Virginia defensive line coach Levern Belin and recruiting coordinator Bob Price, both of which drew high praise from the youngster.
Despite being rated as the nation’s 14th-best tight end, Renfrow said he was excited to play defensive end at Virginia.
“I know as a tight end that I am real athletic and it comes to me pretty easily,” he said, “but defensive end is where I will be at and I can’t wait to get started.”