As offensively gifted a longpole as there’s been in recent memory, Hopper makes a game-changing impact every time he steps on the field and has been having a brilliant senior season for the top-ranked Cavaliers. Flying all over the field with his athletic and long 6’5 frame, he makes his presence felt with brilliant stick work, disruptive slides, and with his tremendous ability off the ground. Although he infrequently gets dodged, he routinely turns defense into offense by jumping passing lanes for interceptions and darting upfield, routinely clearing the ball by himself and hammering the ball into the back of the net. He has a tremendous knack for making plays that shift the momentum of a game: in a win over St. Anthony’s, Hopper scored the opening goal and finished with two goals and an assist. He’ll fit in perfectly in Charlottesville, where he’ll be a significant asset on both ends of the field in addition to factoring in at the top of UVA’s ride.

Hopper has to be a main emphasis in transition when it comes to opposing team’s scouting reports. Hopper continued his impressive scoring season with another goal in transition in the fourth quarter. Not many LSMs can score like him in transition. He scored his goal underhand off stick into the top corner. He played the wing on face-offs, scooped at least four groundballs, and played fundamentally sound defense. He is the type of defender Lars Tiffany will love at UVA.

At NHSLS, the 6’5, 190-pound Virginia signee was his usual self, corralling groundballs in traffic with frequency, stripping opposing middies, putting the ball in the back of the net, and making impactful plays in tight games. He’ll need to work on channeling his aggression and emotions — Hopper put himself in the penalty box several times — but when he’s playing disciplined and within himself, his team feeds off of his playmaking ability. Last year, he finished with 55 groundballs, 36 caused turnovers, three goals, and five assists.

I was able to see one game from Hopper when the Annapolis Hawks lost to Eclipse in overtime and in that game, Hopper played some solid defense and was able to generate multiple transition chances after a caused turnover. With his large frame, the Spalding product overpowered opponents and grabbed the loose ball with superior stick-checking ability. He works hard in the clearing game with good stickhandling, speed, and the luxury of being able to drop his shoulder if someone’s in his way. There was one instance in the game where that was the case. Hopper had the ball for a clear and an attackman was in his way and he just barreled right over him and toed the sideline to stay in bounds. That fired up the entire Hawks team and if I’m being honest, it fired me up too. You can’t teach size, so if you have it and use it to your advantage as Hopper does, it could be a difference-maker for any team.