UVA presents diplomas to families of three slain football players

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The three slain UVA football players, D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., have been awarded posthumous degrees by the university.

Rachel Most, who was the dean for all three players in Virginia’s College of Arts & Sciences, made the request to honor the three. Perry was a double major in African American & African studies and studio art, while Davis majored in African American and African studies. Chandler majored in American studies.

The three players were attacked on Nov. 13 after returning from a day-long, class field trip to Washington, D.C. Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., also a student at UVA, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, along with other charges, and is presently in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Jail. He was also charged with shooting running back Mike Hollins, who survived the attack and is recovering after two surgeries, and wounding UVA student Marlee Morgan.

“It was a great honor to be a part of presenting these diplomas to the families of Devin, Lavel and D’Sean,” said UVA athletics director Carla Williams in a released statement.