Ross is a rock star in UVA camp; QB Morris helping tweak Wahoos’ offense

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Talk to any UVA offensive coach and they’ll gush about JMU transfer Cam Ross.

Not only has he stood out as a punt and kickoff return man on special teams, but also at wide receiver. At 5-foot-10, 186 pounds, Number 6 in your program may soon be No. 1 in your heart if you’re a Virginia fan.

Special teams and running backs coach Keith Gaither commented last week that Ross is the most impressive offensive player on the team.

On Wednesday, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings agreed.

“Cam has just been a workman,” Kitchings said. “He’s been available to us every day. He has speed, has quickness. He does a really good job of catching the football and he’s smart. Having that speed piece and the experience, that’s big. Plus, he’s played a lot of football.”

Ross started nine games and appeared in 13 contests for a good JMU team last season, his first in Harrisonburg after transferring in from UConn, where he played 28 games and started 16 over four seasons. During that stint with the Huskies, Ross accounted for 1,356 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

Last season at JMU, he made 37 catches for 443 yards and scored three TDs. He had seven receptions for 107 yards and a score against North Carolina.

Ross also was JMU’s primary kickoff return guy, averaging 28.2 yards per return, including a 94-yard return.

“He’s played a lot of football and he’s had some production,” Kitchings said. “That helps us not only offensively, but in the special teams game. If we can get a touchdown special teams-wise, it counts as offensive points. I think he is a guy that can bring that to us from a special teams standpoint and then give us the ability to push the ball down the field and try to attack defenses vertically.”

Only a few days ago, Gaither praised Ross throughout an interview:

“I think he’s probably the most valuable player up to this point on the offense,” Gaither said. “In the spring, we didn’t know what we had. He was still learning and we watched him train through the summer, changed his body. He’s been diligent and intentional about every rep he took. He’s probably one of our best players, and to have one of your best players playing at a high level every snap, it’s a huge asset for us.”

This will be Ross’ seventh year of football, so not only does he have experience, he has maturity that will rub off on many of UVA’s younger players.

While Virginia is grooming new quarterback Chandler Morris into the Cavaliers’ trigger man, UVA’s coaches are also picking up some ideas from the well-traveled Chandler, who has played at Oklahoma, TCU and North Texas.

The 24-year-old quarterback has opened up a constant line of communication with Kitchings and Virginia’s other offensive coaches, who are tweaking the playbook to make Morris comfortable with the play calls.

“The thing I enjoy about Chandler and (backup) Danny [Kaelin] is their ability to communicate, to communicate what they are seeing, what could be an adjustment, what they’re comfortable with,” Kitchings said. “Sometimes guys feel like they can’t communicate those things to the coach or they don’t know how to verbalize it. But both of them are very good at doing that.”

The give-and-take has strengthened the relationship between the quarterbacks and the coaches.

“I tell them, you’re an extension of me out on the field, so the closer we are and the more similar we can kind of think together, the better off we’re going to be offensively and as a team,” Kitchings said.

Tony Elliott said last week that the staff wants the QBs — particularly Morris, who is the starter — to be comfortable with the playbook. The coaches have tossed out things that Morris doesn’t like and put emphasis on the plays he is comfortable executing, plays that work to his strength.

During that process, Virginia’s coaches are also picking up little adjustments, ideas to make the offense more efficient.

“Chandler has a lot more experience than Danny (a redshirt freshman with four years of eligibility), so Chandler is able to articulate more,” Kitchings said. “He can say, ‘Coach, this is what I dislike, this is what I like. I’ve done this 1,000 times, and so at Oklahoma, we actually tweaked it and did it this way because we realized this was a little better.

“Or, at TCU, we did this play here that I really liked.’ So, if it fits us, fits our personnel, fits what we’re trying to do, then let’s find the best way to make it work in our offense. He’s playing the game, right? If he’s out there trying to execute something that he’s not comfortable with, it’s not good for us at all. So trying to make him as comfortable as he can be in the short window, we want him to be at his best.”