Virginia Football 2025: Offensive Preview
Another conference game, another first-ever matchup between two teams.
Every preseason when I wishfully imagine Cal in the playoffs, I don’t imagine an entire roster of 5-star players knocking off the Ohio States and Georgias of the world. I imagine the perfect set of circumstances—say, an extremely favorable schedule, winning close games against bad opponents, collective chaos through the rest of college football (picture: the 2007 season)—and Cal somehow lucking their way into the playoffs. I know that Cal would be frauds in the playoffs, but they’d be frauds in the playoffs. That sort of thing would do wonders for momentum for the program going forward, attracting more talent, involving Cal in the next round of conference realignment talks, and so on. But alas, Cal football is what it is. Cal football was gifted those favorable circumstances, but just couldn’t capitalize and seemed doomed to another 5-7, 6-6 type of season.
Virginia is having the season I wish Cal would have. Just look at the Receivers section below and watch how they catch slightly off-target throws. Now imagine having a 5-star QB constantly launching dimes that just get dropped anyway. Hard to imagine, right? Virginia has found a way to win close games this season, and they’re winning their way through a similarly favorable schedule (they defeated an FSU team ranked #8 at the time which helped propel them upwards through the polls, but it turned out to be the start of FSU’s still-ongoing 4-game losing streak). Virginia only has to win out against Cal, Wake Forest, Duke, and Virginia Tech, and they’ll be in a winnable ACC Championship game—likely against Georgia Tech (top 10 Miami already has a conference loss). Virginia’s playoff hopes are very real and very much alive.
This was their 2024 Cal ESPN College Game Day moment:
Virginia has been nicknamed the “Cardiac Cavaliers” (yes, yes, I know). 3 of their last 4 games have been wins in overtime: they beat FSU in 2 OT (with the dangerous field rush), Louisville in OT, Washington State on a late 4th quarter safety after an accidental fair catch signal pinned Wazzu in their endzone, and last week defeated UNC in OT (after UNC choked away the win— sound familiar?). Virginia’s only loss came in the second game of the season, in a non-conference match against conference rival NC State. Because the new ACC scheduling model did not include these two teams playing each other, the two teams arranged a separate home-and-home to continue playing each other annually in order to preserve their historic rivalry dating back to 1904. This means that Virginia’s only loss this year—to a conference opponent—didn’t count towards their conference record, and they’re still “undefeated” in conference play. Talk about fortuitous circumstances. That’s the sort of thing my Cal playoff dreams are made of.
Since I wasn’t familiar with Virginia’s traditions before this week, I had to do some research. Although the team is officially known as the Cavaliers, fans cheer “Go Hoos” in reference to the nickname “Wahoos.” The term dates back to the 1890s, when rivals from Washington and Lee University used “Wahoos” as an insult—a name Virginia fans eventually adopted as a badge of pride. Over time, it was shortened to “’Hoos,” and today both “Go Hoos” and “Wahoowa” (a yell that was the original part of the insult) are staple cheers of UVA fandom. Fans in the 1800s really loved their incoherent sounds as chants, eh? I did a whole thing about Minnesota’s “Ski-U-Mah” earlier this season.
Back to football, I’ve been really impressed with whoever is drawing up the plays on offense for Virginia. Virginia had a whole thing about changing play-calling duties between head coach Tony Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, but whoever is doing the X’s and O’s here deserves a lot of credit. Virginia schemes open receivers on a lot of clever and innovative play designs I haven’t seen before (perhaps worth an offseason rewatch). This is an offense playing better than the sum of its parts.
Quarterback
Virginia is led by quarterback Chandler Morris, the former Oklahoma/TCU/North Texas transfer (yes, he is on his fourth team in 6 years—isn’t modern college football free agency great?). Chandler Morris is the son of former SMU (2015-2017) and Arkansas (2018-2019) head coach Chad Morris, who has long-standing ties to Virginia head coach Tony Elliott. The two coached together at Clemson, where Chad Morris served as offensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney from 2011 to 2014, while Elliott worked as the running backs coach. Elliott actually took over the Clemson OC job when Morris left for SMU. All that to say, Chandler Morris has clearly had some good coaching growing up, as he possesses a maturity and ability to read the field better than most of his contemporaries.
The easiest way to describe Chandler Morris: he’s a gamer. He may not be the biggest or strongest or fastest player on the field, but he’ll playing the hardest. He’s consistently put his body on the line to make big plays for Virginia this season, and he’s paid the price for it all season long (and keeping Morris healthy should be a primary concern for a team on the verge of a conference championship berth and potential playoff appearance).
Morris plays like a veteran quarterback in the pocket. He stays calm, makes full-field reads, and can manipulate the defense with his eyes:
Virginia likes to move uptempo after a big first down conversion and will often look to make a big play with the defense still on its heels. Morris has good arm strength, with the ability to zip short and intermediate throws into tight windows, although he doesn’t necessarily have a cannon of an arm for the long ball. But still, he possesses sufficient arm strength for the deep shot:
Morris is a dual-threat quarterback, and his ability to run the RPO or play-action puts additional stress on the defense. He shows great placement on the ball when he sets his feet:
Here Morris shows good anticipation on the throw, first faking the screen to manipulate the defense, and then zipping the throw into a tight window for his tight end:
I think one of Morris’s drawbacks is his sometimes overconfidence in his arm. Morris shows a willingness to throw on the run, off his back foot, off-platform, etc, and while it sometimes works out for him:
He also has a tendency to sail throws when he does so:
Morris has the ability to make all of the throws. Here he shows some nice touch in dropping it in for his receiver:
Morris has the ability to extend plays with his feet, and he’s just as likely to run it for a nice gain as he is to find an open man downfield on the scramble drill, which makes him tough to defend. Here you can see him keep his eyes downfield before he tucks it and runs:
Morris absolutely has the ability to make plays with his feet. Here he sees his receivers in man coverage and plenty of room to run:
Morris’s mobility makes him difficult to sack, but unlike a lot of QBs with that ability, I don’t feel like it’s something he relies on (some mobile quarterbacks limit their development in the passing game because they’re so used to having their legs to bail them out when their first or second read is not immediately there). Morris makes good decisions on when to run it:
I thought Morris was trying to throw this away, but he still somehow made a play:
Virginia will sometimes move the pocket with Morris, who has shown some impressive throws on the run:
Conversely, however, his faith in always being able to muscle throws on the run has gotten him into trouble:
Here’s another example of when he’s rushed and just throws this completely off-balance:
Here FSU fails to account for Morris in the run game, and he makes them pay:
I mentioned earlier how Morris was willing to put his body on the line to make the play. Here’s one such example where I believe he was already banged up at this point, and he still decided to run it head first:
Morris has taken a number of big hits on runs, and it hasn’t seemed to stop him yet, but the number of times he’s been limping off the field has to be a concern:
Morris runs the RPO offense well:
And again, completely fools the defense, and then breaks off a big run:
Another criticism against Morris has been that he’s had great receivers that could bail him out at times. I don’t know who the intended receiver is here (something has definitely broken down when you have two receivers in the same area), but this play still somehow works:
Although Morris generally makes pretty good reads, he’s not immune to mistakes. This one cost them the game in their only loss:
And as previously mentioned, Morris has a tendency to sail throws on the run or under pressure:
And again with the arm overconfidence to force this throw into coverage:
Chandler Morris a very good college quarterback. He’s well-rounded, with the ability to make plays on the ground or through the air, he makes good reads and generally good decisions. I think his size and lack of elite arm talent probably mean he’s a late round NFL Draft pick, or UDFA for a backup role. Still, he’s likely the best quarterback Cal will face this season.
Running back
Virginia ranks 3rd in the ACC in rushing yards per game, behind Florida State and Georgia Tech (two very good rushing teams). Their high-powered run offense is led by J’Mari Taylor, a one-time NC Central (FCS) walk-on, who now ranks 5th in the ACC in rushing yards. J’Mari Taylor is small, shifty, and fast, but possesses surprising power for his size, showing the ability to run through bigger tacklers. Taylor shows good vision:
As well as good contact balance to stay upright when hit:
One very surprising stat I saw that I would have never guessed: Taylor actually ranks 2nd in the ACC in Missed Tackles Forced (per PFF). He’s deceptively difficult to tackle:
I don’t even need to title this highlight run against Stanford, but check out the stiff-arm and lowering his pad-level:
Taylor is also a reliable receiver as a safety valve. Once he gets into open space, he makes multiple defenders miss:
Taylor is fast. If he gets free, he’s gone:
In more of a traditional power back role is Harrison Waylee. Harrison Waylee entered the season the active FBS rushing leader after previous stops at NIU and Wyoming, although he’s since been eclipsed this season by Penn State’s RB Kaytron Allen (3489 rushing yards to Waylee’s 3464).
Waylee is more of a one-cut and go running back:
Although not a typical play, Waylee also broke off this huge run, which I believe was a UVA record:
Waylee will also be used in wildcat formations. Virginia likes to use deception on this sort of snap, with the QB lining up and clapping for the snap, but then snapping directly to the RB instead:
The other running back regularly in the rotation was Xavier Brown, but he is unfortunately out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury. It is likely that Noah Vaughn will receive some of that workload, seen here showing off some speed in the open field:
Although the Virginia running backs are very good, they have flown a bit under the radar this season. I certainly wouldn’t have guessed they were top 3 in the ACC in rushing yards per game, and ahead of Virginia Tech, which certainly doesn’t bode well for Cal after what happened last week in Blacksburg.
Receivers
Unsurprisingly, Virginia has good receivers too. Like the RB room, the receiving corps is a well-rounded group despite not having a singular star receiving threat—they’re all strong contributors flying a bit under the radar. Trell Harris is a Kent State transfer, Cam Ross is from UConn/James Madison, and Jahmal Edrine from FAU/Purdue. All of them were unsung prospects, but they’re playing well above their paygrade now. Harris and Edrine are tied for 32 receptions while Ross has 28, but Ross missed one game with an injury. In other words, all three of their top receivers average 4 catches per game. Talk about spreading the rock.
Virginia’s current leading receiver (in yardage) is Trell Harris. Harris, the Z receiver, is a big play threat with great hands. Check out this catch:
Harris is fast, and uses his speed to get open deep:
Harris also has some nice YAC ability:
I mentioned in the QB section about the receivers sometimes bailing out Morris. Here’s another play that should have been intercepted, but Harris somehow made the catch off the deflection, turning this into a positive play with his yards after catch:
Cam Ross, the slot receiver, has also shown a nice catch radius with the ability to catch the occasional errant throw:
Cam Ross is also fast and elusive in open space, and an even bigger threat to create his own yards after the catch:
Jahmal Edrine is another quiet but important contributor. I don’t often feature WR blocks in this section, but check out the following play. Usually you have to take someone to dinner first before you do something like this:
While Trell Harris is the more traditional deep threat, Jahmal Edrine receives most of his targets on short to intermediate throws, because—get this—he’s also a reliable receiver:
Here’s a nice route and good timing on the throw with his quarterback:
The tight end Dakota Twitty has been injured and I don’t believe (at the time of this writing) that he’s expected to return, but I am going to include his clips anyway because it might give you a sense of some of the things Virginia likes to do with their tight ends:
This is just a well-run route and nice catch:
With Twitty out, TE Sage Ennis has received most of the TE snaps in his stead. Virginia will use deception to get their tight ends involved in the passing game:
Backing up Ennis is TE John Rogers. All of the UVA tight ends run surprisingly decent routes:
Backing up Cam Ross in the slot is Kameron Courtney, who showed some versatility in the run game.
Behind WR-X Jahmal Edrine is Jayden Thomas and behind Trell Harris at WR-Z is Eli Wood IV. I could probably include a few clips here, but I am already over 50 clips and with this WR corps it’s really just pick your poison. The only other player I’ll single out is Suderian Harrison—for trick play purposes—who has “HS QB” written all over him:
Cal generally does a good job of scheming and shutting down a team’s top receiver, but with Virginia, it’s not clear that doing so well help all that much, as they have three receivers who can fill that #1 role.
Special teams
Special teams is worth mentioning here. I’ve already mentioned that Cam Ross is an explosive player, and he’s a big threat in the return game:
On the other hand, Virginia has suffered some special teams miscues this year. For example, this bad snap on the punt cost Virginia a safety:
I’m no kicking expert, but it seems that the kicker is also prone to erratic kicks, where the ball just comes off his foot funny. Not sure if it’s the snap, the hold, or the kick, but there have been multiple FG attempts that looked like a blocked kick, but were actually just poorly kicked balls (whose flight path even gave the appearance of a block). I’m not sure how you fix it, but it’s been an issue
Just a few things to keep an eye out for on Saturday, as special teams can often make the difference in a close game (and Virginia has played a lot of those recently).
Conclusion
My first inclination for this game was obviously doom. There’s no getting around it, Virginia is clearly the better team. They grade out as roughly middle of the pack defensively in the ACC (although I’d expect impact plays from DE Fisher Camac, DE/OLB Mitchell Melton, and NB Ja’Son Prevard), but they have one of the best offenses in the conference. Even though Virginia is clearly the better team, they have had a bad habit of playing down to their opponent’s level this season and making games too close to comfort (e.g. the 3 OT wins in their past 4 games). I know the transitive property doesn’t hold in football, but this is a team that just narrowly beat North Carolina on a last-second defensive stop. Which team was that? Exactly.
I don’t have much to offer in the way of hope other than to hope that after a cross-country flight to Berkeley, Virginia gets off to a slow start, plays down to Cal’s level, but never wakes up to make a comeback like they usually do. Otherwise, I’d say Cal is probably in trouble. Maybe this week is the week Wilcox does his yearly pull the defensive rabbit out of the hat to beat the obviously superior team. Haha, just kidding. Unless…?
Go Bears.
You can find my full clips here.
Well researched article, and yeah, they’ve looked like the better team, have some great weapons at the skill positions, etc. - what allows them to excel is decent line play, from what I see in your highlights. However you didn’t show all the times UNC shut them down. They scored only ten points vs. the ‘Heels in regulation, and were squelched as well by Washington State for most of that game. Anything can happen on a Saturday afternoon in Strawberry Canyon. Bears will be hyped. Cal gets a fumble recovery and one or two INT’s, and wins a low scoring affair.
those RPO clips brought back some bad memories from a week ago