CHARLOTTESVILLE — During his recruitment, new Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris peppered Cavaliers coach Tony Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings with questions about who his future teammates would be. Who was returning from last year’s team? Who were they targeting in the transfer portal?
Once he committed, he had one more question.
“How can I help?” Morris said he asked the staff. “I was trying to make a decision pretty quickly, I think I made it within a week, so thattaway I could go help get other guys on board.”
Based on rankings by recruiting sites 247sports and Rivals, Virginia may have landed more talent than it lost to the portal this offseason.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea and wide receiver Malachi Fields were starters and stars who departed for UNLV and Notre Dame, respectively. But overall, Elliott’s program wasn’t as hard hit as many across the conference and country.
The Cavaliers, who finished 5-7 last year, went into the offseason knowing they had to add a quarterback or two — preferably a veteran and a younger prospect — and bolster their offensive line and receiving corps.
“It really comes down to restocking the roster,” said director of recruiting Justin Speros.
Offensively, after a season that saw UVA average just 22.7 points per game, the second-lowest mark in the ACC, the Cavaliers have retooled.
With Jahmal Edrine (Purdue), Cam Ross (James Madison) and, most recently, Jayden Thomas (Notre Dame), they’ve added talented, experienced pass-catchers.
In tackles Monroe Mills (Louisville) and Tyshawn Wyatt (JMU) and interior linemen Brady Wilson (UAB) and Kevin Wigenton II (Illinois), they’ve shored up the offensive line.
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Virginia added Daniel Kaelin, a quarterback they had recruited a year earlier out of high school, as a second transfer at that position. Kaelin, who redshirted at Nebraska in 2024, has four years of eligibility remaining. Morris has one.
Edrine, Mills and Wyatt were among the recruits Morris personally reached out to after committing to the Cavaliers on Dec. 16.
“Everybody in the world wants to feel wanted,” said Edrine, who caught 23 passes for 365 yards and two scores this past season as a redshirt freshman for the Boilermakers. “For the quarterback to reach out to me like that, it definitely played a factor in my decision.”
It helped that that quarterback put up eye-popping statistics at North Texas in 2024.
Morris, who started his career at Oklahoma, spent three years at TCU and a season with the Mean Green, ranked fourth in the nation with 31 touchdown throws and fifth with 3,774 passing yards.
His big pitch to Edrine?
“He pretty much told me to check out his tape,” Edrine said. “And that’s all I had to do.”
As he considered making the move to UVA, Ross did the same, checking out online video of Morris — the son of former Clemson offensive coordinator and SMU coach Chad Morris — slinging the ball around the field last season for North Texas.
“As a receiver, that’s one of the main factors into your decisions — who’s going to be giving you the ball?” said Ross, who spent four seasons at Connecticut before joining JMU and catching 37 passes for 443 yards and three touchdowns last year. “I knew that we had a guy, especially the numbers he put up last year. I knew there was going to be a dude.”
Ross’s JMU teammate, Wyatt, had committed to Virginia just over a week before Ross. Like Edrine, Wyatt said a recruiting call from Morris helped seal the deal.
“It felt like, A, he’s committed. And B the staff and everybody are on the same page. They all know who are guys who can help this program,” said Wyatt, who sat out last season with an injury. “He was just letting me know we’re pieces away. A couple pieces away. And this program’s on the rise.”
Morris did his part to help bolster the roster. Now, he’s working on getting to know his new teammates while he learns a new school, program and offense. He’s striking the balance between being the new guy and also being a guy tasked with a leadership role, one that will only expand when spring practice opens March 3.
Morris knows he’ll need to have chemistry with this rebuilt lineup.
“You’re only as good as the talent around you,” Morris said.
