UVA coach visits Southern Alamance to scout football talent

A University of Virginia football coach visited Southern Alamance High School in Graham to evaluate players, a stop that put Alamance County’s rising Patriots in front of a Division I staff and added more outside attention to a program already drawing notice beyond county lines.

The visit mattered because Southern Alamance is no longer hiding in the middle of the pack. The Patriots have been producing college-bound players, and the program’s recent success has made schoolwide recruiting visits more likely to land in Graham. For future athletes, a campus check-in from a major-conference staff can help confirm that the work in the weight room and on Friday nights is being seen far beyond Alamance County.

Southern Alamance’s profile has grown under head coach Jonathan Hester, a 2016 Southern alum who was hired in April 2024 after guiding the junior varsity team to a 9-1 record and a conference championship. Before Hester took over, Tony McCants’ lone season ended 7-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play. That followed a stretch that included seasons of 9-3, 9-4, 4-3, 8-3, 9-4 and 12-2 under Fritz Hessenthaler, giving the Patriots a run of consistency that college recruiters notice.

The school’s size has also pushed Southern Alamance into a larger conversation. With an average daily membership of 1,218 students, the Patriots were placed into N.C. High School Athletic Association 6A under the state’s new realignment. They are slated for a 5A/6A league with Eastern Alamance, Person, Rockingham County, Southeast Alamance, Western Alamance and Williams, a grouping that will keep local rivalries front and center while raising the level of weekly competition.

That combination of size, recent success and visibility helps explain why a Virginia staffer would make the trip. University of Virginia football’s recruiting rules allow certain prospect communication to begin Sept. 1 of a recruit’s junior year, which makes in-person evaluation especially valuable when coaches are trying to separate similar prospects early. UVA’s 2026 spring game at Scott Stadium, scheduled for April 18, fit into an active recruiting calendar that kept the Cavaliers on the road looking for talent.

Southern Alamance’s football history gives the visit even more meaning. The Patriots reached the 3A East regional final in 1975 and advanced to the fourth round of the NCHSAA 3A East playoffs in a more recent season. In Graham, that kind of track record now carries more weight, because a campus visit from Virginia says the program is being watched not just in Alamance County, but in Charlottesville too.