Big Weekend for Nation's #1 Ireland Real, Texas and Stanford and VBAdrenaline

She has completed this entire process, just as I think every volleyball prospect should be allowed to.  2027 #1 overall recruit, Ireland Real, is finishing up her Official Visits, and this weekend is a big one.  Not only for the San Diego native who has followed her and her families process this summer and playing the long game and being in NO RUSH AT ALL, but also for what are widely considered her two final schools Stanford and Texas who ironically play eachother today in a Top 10 matchup in Austin, TX where Ireland is on her official visit taking in the one of a kind University of Texas campus and "the Texas Culture".  It's also a big weekend for our little website, as I'll explain in a bit.

The official:

Ireland is in the middle of her official visit weekend in Austin, and that has to be an experience in itself.  The culture of the city is something, but then the Culture of Texas Volleyball is simply different.  It took me a year or so of talking with players and other coaches to really understand, but it is different, and I think it's going to fit Real perfectly.  It's her mindset (optimistic and positive, the ultimate growth mindset), and it fits what Texas has built.  Does that mean every single athlete starts and plays and is an All-American?  No, and that doesn't happen at the worst D-1 school either, but it is what is practiced and that is Ireland's mindset from what I have been told for a couple of year's now.  So I think she has to be loving her official, and that is why I always thought UT would be a great fit for her.

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Big Weekend for Stanford and UT:

It must be such an odd feeling for both staff knowing that yes, you are prepping for a huge match that would be a very big W for your young team (both), and you need to focus on that in itself.  But, you also have this recruit that both of you want and would be the gem of your 2027 class right there, watching both squads battle each other, almost like the ultimate rivalry trophy.  I joked this week, what if Ireland just stood at the scorer's table and as soon as the match was over ran to the winner's celebration huddle and threw on a school hat and grabbed the TV mic of whatever station is covering the match and announced her verbal!  That would crush any of those silly Football or Basketball dumb hat announcements and would really amp up the stakes of the match, lol.

We all know Ireland's decision comes down to so much more than this match or even the weekend, but it would be awkward if I were the recruit. I would feel that way anyway.  Stanford could absolutely use her in their Class of 2027, and it would give them a big boost, especially with their rule of no transfers.

Other than just a very important recruiting weekend, fans get to see two of the top 3 freshman classes in America going at it, and some of the best freshmen getting to play early in their careers and having success on the court.  

Finally Big For VBAdrenaline:

We are just excited because on July 6th, 2024, we moved Ireland Real up to the highest PPV in the 2027 class, which at the time was a BIG move in recruiting sites.  We have repeated the story many times since, but her play at Nationals and the energy she played with was so different than anyone else we saw in the class, it was Halle Thompson's energy level on every single play for 4 days in Henley Anderson's body, but stronger and longer.  Now there is work to do and she knows that, but when I saw that and the frame it just hit me that those were high level traits already that put her with a very high PPV score to start and she performed in every match I watched so the consistency was there and she was making plays in the front and back rowns and both sides of the ball.  Still, we were the ONLY ones that had her that high, and I also made a note ***Perfect fit for Texas Culture*** 

So, as other sites tend to do when they hear certain recruits are getting recruited by certain schools, their rankings get much, much better.  Ireland's ranking did, and they eventually joined us, having her at or very near the top of the class, but I'm still very proud of "that call last July:) and if she does end up putting on that Texas hat as a UT Commit I'll be proud of that little note I jotted down 16 months ago.  We are figuring this recruiting thing out a little bit.

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Regardless, the Class of 2027 highest evaluated prospect is in Austin, Texas, for her Official Recruiting Weekend.  Experiencing what EVERY volleyball prospect SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE.  There is quite a bit riding on the day in Austin for both teams and Ireland.  This is the fun stuff of college volleyball and recruiting.  Enjoy it, young lady, let them spoil the heck out of you for 48 hours!  But, if she would run out after the match and throw on the hat of the winner and commit that would be pretty sick!