DB Morris will miss season with torn ACL
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
A day after Virginia coach Tony Elliott announced the Cavaliers had lost projected starting right offensive tackle Makilan Thomas for multiple months due to a fractured foot, UVA got more bad news on Thursday.
Fifth-year defensive back Ja’Maric Morris, who had impressed coaches with his work at corner in the first week of training camp, announced on social media that he tore his ACL in workouts and will be lost for the season.
Elliott noted Wednesday that Morris was injured while participating in a one-on-one drill and came down the wrong way on his knee. Coaches were waiting on results from an MRI, but Morris broke the news to the Virginia fan base on Thursday.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound grad student, who previously played at Georgia State and Central Florida, played in all 12 games for Georgia State in 2024 and was second on the team with two interceptions.
Starting right tackle Thomas suffers foot fracture
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo by Jon Golden
Virginia’s projected starting right offensive tackle, Makilan Thomas, has undergone surgery for a broken bone in his foot and is likely out for as much as three months.
Tony Elliott confirmed the injury while meeting with media after Wednesday’s practice, and discussed what follows.
“[Makilan] stepped wrong and ended up with a fractured bone in his foot, had surgery a couple of days ago, so we’re hopeful that it won’t be an extended amount of time,” Elliott said. “It is a multiple-month recovery. It’s very unfortunate and obviously he was devastated.”
The coach said Thomas attended practice Wednesday and observed from the sidelines, and was in good spirits.
“Typically these injuries are three months, but we don’t know enough about how quickly he heals,” Elliott said. “It was kind of a fluke deal, just on air, and we didn’t even have pads on.”
Thanks to success in the transfer portal, Virginia has options in filling Thomas’ vacancy.
Elliott said that Ben York (6-5, 305, second year, Burke, Va.), David Wohlabaugh (6-6, 301, fifth year, Stowe, Ohio), Wallace Unamba (6-6, 335, sixth year, Dallas, Texas), Jack Witmer (6-7, 306, fifth year, Cypress, Texas), and Jon Adair (6-5, 280, first year, Franklin, Tenn.) are all viable options to play the right tackle spot.
Meanwhile, third year defensive end Mekhi Buchanan and fifth year defensive back Ja’Maric Morris also experienced recent injuries.
Buchanan suffered a high ankle sprain that is expected to keep him out of action for a couple of weeks, according to Elliott. Morris was participating in a one-on-one drill and came down the wrong way on his knee, the coach said.
Coaches are waiting on the results of Morris’ MRI and hoping for the best.
UVA reveals dates for Meet the Team, ‘Paint the Town Orange’
Courtesy UVA Media Relations
Photo: University of Virginia
Virginia football will host its 2025 Meet the Team Day event, presented by UVA Orthopedics, on Sunday, Aug. 10, inside UVA’s Welsh Indoor Practice Facility from 4-6 p.m. The annual Paint the Town Orange pep rally, presented by the UVA Community Credit Union, will take place Friday, Aug. 29, at the Ting Pavilion on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall beginning at 8 p.m. Both events are free to the public.
MEET THE TEAM
UVA Fralin Family Head Football Coach Tony Elliott and the Cavalier football team will be available for autographs beginning at 4 p.m. in the IPF. Fans can pick up a copy of the team’s 2025 official season poster at the event. In addition to autographs, Meet The Team features inflatable games, balloon artists and face painters for kids.
Entry for the event is located at the northwest entrance of the IPF. Attendees should use the promenade located between the McCue Center and the outdoor practice grass fields to access the IPF. Parking is free in the lots immediately surrounding the McCue Center and John Paul Jones Arena. Accessibility shuttles will transport fans in need of accommodations from the designated accessible parking area to the outdoor grass practice fields, only steps away from the IPF entrance.
PAINT THE TOWN ORANGE
The UVA marching band and spirit squads will depart the Omni Hotel to march the Downtown Mall at approximately 7:40 p.m. Both groups will enter the Pavilion at 8 p.m. and the pep rally will feature appearances by Elliott and the Virginia football team.
The Fridays After Five concert series begins at 5 p.m. at Charlottesville’s Ting Pavilion. UVA cheerleaders and spirit squad members will be present to distribute the 2025 Virginia Football poster as well as other giveaways.
Fans are encouraged to wear orange to Scott Stadium for the Cavaliers’ season opener against Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Aug. 30. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
UVA hoops: drinking from a fire hose, then refining
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
When Virginia’s basketball team returns later this month, Ryan Odom will begin to emphasize the finer points of how he wants his system to run after giving them a big dose of “Odom Ball” during their brief summer work.
“What I’ve tried to do over the years, and it has changed some, is try to give them a lot (in June/July workouts) and see what they can digest, and then, when they get back in August, you really hone in on the details,” Odom said.
UVA’s new coach acknowledged that there’s not enough time — especially with a completely rebuilt roster absorbing a completely new system — in the summer to become what he termed the best team in transition defense or a well-oiled machine on offense.
“Instead, you give them the opportunity to make mistakes without fear and really play their game and show what they can do over the summer,” Odom said. “Then you begin to figure out, ‘OK, this guy, he can do more than I even thought he could do,’ going into your season.”
Odom didn’t put in a lot of defensive things during summer drills, other than just one-on-one stuff, and that’s where his defense starts.
“You have to be able to stop your man, but we’re not putting in a ton of schemes on defense (until late August/September) in terms of pick-and-roll defense, or how do we guard certain situations and rotations. We have to be able to guard our man first,” Odom said. “And guarding our offense is hard enough. We’re training them to play at a high pace, but it’s not reckless to where they’re turning the basketball over.”
Instead, working on shot selection, teaching his players what “Virginia basketball” shots look like, not what individual shots should look like.
“We’re trying to train them every day to play at a high pace and search for the best shot for Virginia, plus developing a sense that if you’re going to play here, you’re going to share the ball,” Odom said. “That’s something that they’re being coached on every single day.”
Virginia schedules 2027 home game vs. Arkansas State
By Jerry Ratcliffe
In the wake of Indiana canceling a home-and-home football series with Virginia, the Cavaliers have scheduled a home game against Arkansas State in 2027.
The game is set to be played on Sept. 18, 2027, and will be the first meeting between the two programs. UVA will host William & Mary the following week.
Arkansas State is presently coached by Butch Jones, formerly the head coach at Tennessee. The Red Wolves finished 8-5 last season after defeating Bowling Green in the 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, Ala.
Members of the Sun Belt Conference West division, it’s the same league as JMU, ODU and Coastal Carolina, all in the Sun Belt East.
According to the report, Virginia will pay Arkansas State a $700,000 guarantee for the meeting.
UVA already knows its ‘27 ACC opponents: home games with NC State, Pitt, SMU and Virginia Tech, with road games at Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami and North Carolina.
Arkansas State is predicted to finish third in the Sun Belt West Division this season, according to the preseason coaches poll, behind Louisiana and Texas State.
UVA men’s swimming gets $2.2 million gift
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Todd DeSorbo has already built a dynasty in women’s collegiate swimming at Virginia. Now, he’s on the verge of doing the same with the men’s program, and Tuesday’s huge financial gift enhanced those possibilities.
An anonymous donor gifted UVA’s men’s swimming program a $2.2-million commitment, the largest single gift in Cavaliers men’s swimming history. With university matching funds, the overall gift will make a $2.7-million impact on the program.
“This gift couldn’t come at a more pivotal time,” DeSorbo said in a release from Virginia Athletics and the Virginia Athletics Foundation. “We’re bringing in what I believe is the best recruiting class in the country and maybe one of the best in NCAA history. This support will help us continue to build a team that competes for championships and represents the University at the highest level.”
Among that top-rated class are three swimmers ranked among the nation’s top 10, including Thomas Heilman of nearby Crozet, Maximus Williamson of Southlake, Texas, and Nathan Szobota from Richmond. UVA fans will remember Heilman competing for Team USA at the 2024 Olympics in the 200m and 100m butterfly.
‘Jerry & Jerry:’ There is reason to be optimistic about Virginia football
Host Jerry Miller and Hall of Famer Jerry Ratcliffe explain why it’s okay to feel good about the coming UVA football season and answer a ton of audience questions during Tuesday’s LIVE “The Jerry & Jerry Show.”
The Wahoos are “all in” with spending money to gain an unprecedented amount of playable depth on this year’s team. Combine that with seven home games and a lighter schedule, and Virginia should at least go bowling in 2025, but could do much more if the Cavaliers can win their 50-50 matchups.
The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines:
UVA Football Picked 14th Out Of 17 ACC Teams
Buy Or Sell: Are Wahoos 4th Worst Team In ACC?
UVA 4th Easiest Schedule In Nation (Pro Football Focus)
Virginia Teams With Costco To Sell Football Tix
Will Xavier Brown Be An “X Factor” This Year?
UVA OC Says Wide Receiver Will Be Strength
UVA Basketball To Host Villanova In Exhibition
UVA Recruiting: Hoos Chasing Nation’s Top Talent
Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air
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Virginia’s goal is to put opposing QBs on the ground
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Virginia’s inability to rush the passer has been a major problem for the past two seasons, particularly last year when the Cavaliers lost some winnable games.
In 2024, Virginia finished next-to-last in the ACC in QB sacks with 19, which also ranked a pathetic No. 103 nationally out of 133 teams. Opposing quarterbacks had plenty of time to find their receivers and picked UVA’s secondary apart because of a lack of pressure.
Defensive coordinator John Rudzinski believes those days are over, thanks in part to Virginia’s success in the transfer portal. The Cavaliers are bigger on the defensive front and have some newcomers who can make quarterbacks sweat.
“You would always love to be able to generate a four-man pass rush, and looking at the combination of guys we have and their ability to win one-on-ones, it’s really good,” Rudzinski said after Monday’s practice. “It has been really positive throughout spring ball and now into fall camp to see that guys have that ability.”
Coach Rud said he can’t wait to see how the pass rush develops over the next few weeks of training camp.
Two of the new players who are expected to amp up the pass rush are Fisher Camac, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound defensive end who transferred from UNLV, along with Mitchell Melton, a 6-4, 256-pound edge rusher from Ohio State.
Camac had some eyepopping numbers with the Rebels last season when he posted 7.5 sacks on the season, fourth-most in the Mountain West Conference. Camac’s three sacks and four tackles-for-loss in UNLV’s win over California in a bowl game were the most by any player in a 2024 bowl.
Melton, who played in 13 games for the national-champion Buckeyes, recorded two sacks.
“Mitchell Melton brings a lot of versatility to the front seven,” Rudzinski said. “He can rush the passer. He’s going to have to win one-on-ones against offensive tackles. He’s a really good athlete.”
Defensive ends coach Chris Slade, who knows a little something about rushing the passer (Slade still holds the ACC record for most career sacks), likes what he has seen from the pool of edge rushers.
“Used to be, the first-team guy goes down, the second guy you bring in, you don’t really know … there would be a tremendous dropoff,” Slade said of the past few seasons’ rosters. “You bring in the backup guy and you are hoping and praying that he can make some plays.
“Now, I feel like there’s not a lot of dropoff at the edge position. I’m excited about the guys we have.”
One of those is obviously Camac.
“I think he’s going to be a 7-to-10 sack kind of guy,” Slade said. “I really do. I think Melton, with his experience from Ohio State, is going to be big. He can run. I mean, Ohio State doesn’t recruit guys who can’t play, right? They don’t recruit many guys they don’t think have a shot at the NFL, so I think he’s going to bring some versatility at that position because he’s so athletic.
“We have some other guys who can get after the quarterback, too. We’ve got some length, we’ve got some size.”
Camac came in pretty raw at around 245 pounds, but has added 15 pounds of muscle and is a thicker, stronger, more imposing player now.
Slade said putting pressure on quarterbacks is a point of emphasis, and he hopes at least one of his edge rushers will become a difference-maker like some of the great defensive ends in Virginia’s history over the past 40 years.
“This is one of the things we’ve always believed in here in terms of defensive ends,” Slade said. “When the game’s on the line, you need it the most. Those guys have got to make a play. All the great ones here have come in and made plays.
“The Darryl Blackstock’s, the Chris Long’s, the Chris Canty’s, Eli Harold, Patrick Kerney, on and on and on (plus the Chris Slade’s), all these edge guys made plays. So we need to find a guy that can take that type of role and responsibility. We need somebody from this group to step up and be that guy.”
Slade believes Melton, Camac, Mekhi Buchanan and Cazeem Moore (transfer from Elon) will get after it for the duration of camp and beyond, along with 6-8 Billy Koudelka, who he calls the “wild card.”
Then there’s Daniel Rickert, a transfer from Tennessee Tech, who had 7 sacks and 11 tackles-for-loss last season.
“He’s fast as hell, he can run, and I think he’ll help us on third down, too, so I’m excited about all the possibilities.”
It certainly appears that Virginia made some strides on the edge from the transfer portal, landing the kinds of players who can decide a close game. Money well spent.
UVA in hunt for nation’s No. 1 center; White announces Thursday
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: GoCoogs.com
Virginia has made the cut list for the nation’s top center prospect for the recruiting class of 2026.
Arafan Diane, a 7-footer, ranked as the No. 21 overall prospect in the nation for his class, has narrowed his list to 12 schools: UVA, Kentucky, Kansas, Houston, Oregon, UConn, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Arkansas, Indiana and Purdue.
According to Rivals/On3, Houston is favored to land the 4-star, but in these days of NIL packages, anything is possible.
Originally from Guinea, Diane has official visits set for Arkansas and Kentucky in September and one to Houston Oct. 9-12. If he continues to visit after the Houston stop, then who knows.
Meanwhile, 4-star Billy White III, who had scheduled several visits for late August (including an official trip to Virginia) and September, has switched things up and will instead announce his commitment on Thursday at 6 p.m.
White’s final list is: UVA, SMU, TCU, LSU, Kansas, Texas A&M, Stanford, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Maryland.
UVA swimmers cap successful week at World Aquatics Championships
Courtesy UVA Media Relations
Photo: UVA Athletics
Virginia swimming student-athletes and alumni won 13 medals at the 2025 FINA World Aquatics Championships, held July 26 through August 3 at the World Aquatics Championships Arena in Singapore.
The Cavaliers tallied 13 medals (seven gold, five silver, one bronze), helping to lead the US to the top of the medal table.
Alumna Gretchen Walsh won individual golds in the 50m Butterfly (24.83) and 100m Butterfly (54.73), the first long-course world titles of her career. She also earned relay gold in the 4x100m Medley Relay.
“I knew that was going to be a fight for me, and that swim took a lot of guts, but I’m really so happy with the result,” Walsh said of her performance in the 100 Fly. “I was aiming for a 55, so to go 54 was really a surprise, and something I’m really proud of. In my mind, I am thinking, ‘do not let these people catch you.’ I’m a swimmer who flies and dies, and I’ve just been working so hard at staying strong on the end. I wanted to do that here. So I was just thinking, keep my technique, keep my form, and that’ll get me to the finish.”
Alumna Kate Douglass won three golds, including an individual title in the 200m Breaststroke (2:18.50), setting an American record with her swim.
“I was more excited, I think, about the time than the title itself,” Douglass said. “I really wanted to go two-eighteen last summer, so to finally drop below two-nineteen, I was just so happy about that. With the training I’ve done this year, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go that this summer, but these last four weeks, I feel like I’ve really had great two breast training. And then I just got really excited to race the world record holder in this event. I think we both pushed each other to be better, and she pushed me to be able to go to a two eighteen tonight.”
Douglass swam on two gold medal relays, helping Team USA set world records in both the 4x100m Medley Relay (3:49.34) and the Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (3:18.48). She also earned silvers in the 100m Breaststroke (1:05.27) and the 4×100 Free Relay (3:31.04).
Team USA was tied with Australia in the gold medal race with eight apiece heading into the final event of the championship, the 4x100m Medley Relay. Douglass posted the fifth-fastest breaststroke split in history (1:04.27) before turning the race over to Walsh, who posted the fastest butterfly split in history (54.98) to keep the relay on record pace before Torri Huske brought it home for the gold.
Rising junior Claire Curzan also earned gold with the 4×100 Medley Relay. Curzan, a backstroke specialist, swam the butterfly leg in prelims, earning the Americans the top seed in the evening final. Curzan competed individually in the 200m Backstroke (2:06.04) at the championships, earning a bronze medal.
Other medalists for the Cavaliers included alumna Alex Walsh, who took silver in the 200m IM (2:08.58), and rising sophomore Anna Moesch, who earned two relay silvers in the 4x100m and 4x200m Freestyle Relays.
Team USA finished with nine gold medals, with Australia earning eight. The Americans had 29 total medals, Australia 20 and China 14.
Virginia had 10 athletes competing: six women and two men swimming for Team USA and two women swimming for other nations.
Incoming freshman Sara Curtis, representing Italy, made the finals of the 100m Freestyle, placing 8th overall (53.41). She just missed the final of the 50m Freestyle, placing ninth in the semifinals after setting an Italian record in the event in prelims (24.41). She also helped the Italians set a national record in the Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (3:42.19).
Rising senior Aimee Canny swam in two individual events for South Africa, the 200m Freestyle (1:57.72) and 200m IM (2:12.70), as well as helping set an African Continental Record while swimming the anchor leg of the 4x100m Medley Relay (3:59.47).
For the final three Americans, rising sophomore Katie Grimes made the final of the 400m IM, finishing sixth (4:36.52). Rising senior Jack Aikins swam the prelims of the 100m and 200m Backstroke. Incoming freshman Thomas Heilman competed in the prelims of the 100m Butterfly.
CAVALIER MEDAL TALLY
Gold (7)
50 Fly (Gretchen Walsh), 100 Fly (Gretchen Walsh), 200 Breast (Kate Douglass), Mixed 4×100 Free Relay (Kate Douglass), 4×100 Medley Relay (Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, Claire Curzan)
Silver (5)
200 IM (Alex Walsh), 100 Breast (Kate Douglass), 4×100 Free Relay (Douglass, Anna Moesch), 4×200 Free Relay (Moesch)
Bronze (1)
200 Backstroke (Claire Curzan)
By Athlete
Kate Douglass (5): Gold: 200 Breast, Mixed 4×100 Free Relay, 4×100 Medley Relay, Silver: 100 Breast, 4×100 Free Relay
Gretchen Walsh (3): Gold: 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 4×100 Medley Relay
Claire Curzan (2): Gold: 4×100 Medley Relay, Bronze: 200 Back
Anna Moesch (2): Silver: 4×100 Free Relay, 4×200 Free Relay
Alex Walsh (1): Silver: 200 IM
WORLD AND NATIONAL RECORDS
Kate Douglass: 4x100m Medley Relay (World and American), Mixed 4x100m Free Relay (World and American), 200m Breast (American)
Gretchen Walsh: 4x100m Medley Relay (World and American)
Sara Curtis: 50m Free (Italian), 4x100m Mixed Free Relay (Italian)
Aimee Canny: 4x100m Medley Relay (African Continental Record)
Coughlin ties for 13th at AIG Women’s Open
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: AIG Women’s Open
Charlottesville’s Lauren Coughlin seems to thrive in the winds and weather of the United Kingdom.
The former UVA golfer finished in a tie for 13th at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales on Sunday. Last year’s Scottish Open champion, Coughlin was the third-highest American finisher in Sunday’s final round as she finished the event at 2-under par, nine strokes off the winner, 24-year-old Japanese player Miyu Yamashita.
Coughlin, who was 1-under in Sunday’s round, finished with two birdies, an eagle and three bogeys on the day.
Her play seemed to improve daily in the tournament as she became more comfortable with the course and the wind.
Coughlin had five birdies in Saturday’s round of what is considered one of the world majors for women’s golf.
Kitchings believes his offense is loaded at wide receiver
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Des Kitchings feels like he has a deep talent pool in his wide receivers room, probably eight deep, which easily translates into a six-man rotation during training camp.
Virginia’s wideouts have been working all summer with quarterbacks Chandler Morris and Daniel Kaelin, building chemistry for training camp.
Fourth-year receiver Andre Greene Jr., who transferred a year ago from North Carolina and contributed last season, said this is the most talented group of receivers he has worked with.
“There’s no days off, it’s constant competition, healthy competition, but it’s like, you look to the guy to the left, look to the guy to the right of you and they’re all working super hard,” Greene said. “They’re all really talented and we all just want to help this team win.
“I’ve learned a lot from the other receivers and hopefully they’ve learned a lot from me, but we have a lot of depth.”
Kitchings said he believes the receiving corps is comfortable with one another as he’s observed them hanging out together through the summer, working together, working extra in the indoor facility, catching a lot of footballs.
“You’ve got guys like TyLyric Coleman (third year, Danville), who had a flash in fall camp last year and then suffered an injury, and Kam Courtney (second year, Mansassas), going into his second year, has the flexibility to play the slot in our Z receiver,” Kitchings said.
“So then there’s Suderian Harrison (third year, Mccormick, S.C.), another guy who has flexibility, and Eli Wood (fourth year, Lynchburg) is a guy that’s been productive, has earned some work. There’s Jahmal Edrine (fourth year, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Jayden Thomas (fifth year, Paulding County, Ga.), Andre Greene, Dillon Newton-Short (first year, Matoaca), Josiah Abdullah (first year, Columbus, Ga.), those last two having gotten here early, giving those kids an advantage.”
Virginia’s staff is attempting to give them plenty of reps with both quarterbacks in order to build an arsenal of pass receivers that can give fits to opposing secondaries.
Greene has been credited with having a great offseason and appears healthy and ready to go.
“Dre has physical confidence and athletic confidence,” Kitchings said. “When he came in (before last season), he experienced some injuries, then fully trusted our strength and conditioning, our sports medicine group, to get his body right, to develop and change. He doesn’t have those little nicks of injuries that may have sidelined him a little bit, so I think with all that, he’s become a powerful young man and he could play a role for us this year.”
If that corps of receivers develop in training camp the way Kitchings expects and the running game comes along, he’s hoping that he will have command of the most weapons Virginia has had in his four years on the job.
Underused Xavier Brown wants to gobble up yardage
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Xavier Brown thinks back every now and then to last fall when he tore up Coastal Carolina’s defense, rushing for 171 yards on only nine carries.
It was the kind of day where Brown would rip off a long run, return to the huddle and tell then-quarterback Anthony Colandrea to “let the big dog eat.”
While that was an exceptional game for Brown, who with that performance became the first Virginia running back to gain 150-plus yards in an outing since 2018 (Jordan Ellis vs. Ohio U), it gave him confidence going forward. The Lexington, Ky., native went on to become UVA’s second-leading rusher on the season with 488 yards (44.4 ypg). He would like to surpass those numbers his senior season coming up.
“Obviously that was a career game and you think back on it, but you don’t dwell on it,” Brown said after practice on Wednesday. “There’s things in that game that I could improve on, to see what I could fix, but I loved that day. It’s a game you dream about in your career.”
Brown is one of several experienced backs battling for the starting job in Virginia’s training camp, which opened a few days ago. There’s also J’Mari Taylor, a fifth-year transfer from North Carolina Central, Harrison Waylee, a sixth-year transfer out of Wyoming, third-year Noah Vaughn, who has been on the Cavaliers’ depth chart, along with a few more lesser-known candidates.
Brown said all those backs feed off each other to keep pushing for improvement.
The 5-foot-10, 198-pound tailback, who appeared in all but the season finale at Virginia Tech (collarbone injury), is hoping to make the decision on playing time easy for the coaching staff.
Some of those coaches have admitted that Brown was underused last season, so it’s up to him to prevent that from happening again.
“The main thing is just staying healthy,” Brown said. “That’s something that’s been part of my history, so just staying healthy. Coach says the best ability is availability, so I’m trying to take care of my body as much as I can, to just stay on the field.”
He has been studying some NFL backs that are his size to see how they take hits and avoid different types of hits to prolong their careers.
Brown has had some big moments, like Coastal, where he had a 70-plus-yard run, had a 47-yard touchdown reception that put UVA ahead of Louisville, and rushed for 52 hard-fought yards (4.7 ypc) vs. a tough Notre Dame defense last season.
Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said there should be an opportunity for Brown to make some noise in training camp as UVA edges toward an Aug. 31 home opener against none other than Coastal Carolina.
“Obviously he’ll get opportunities as a ball carrier, but X is showing the ability to catch the ball, too,” Kitchings said. “When you think about the touchdown that put us ahead against Louisville, we threw the ball to him, he made the guy miss and then went down the field. So there are opportunities for him in that fashion. It’s how can we stretch the defense horizontally, but also, how can we stretch them vertically.”
While last season didn’t live up to Brown’s own expectations, he still benefitted greatly from playing in 11 games, a lot more than the season before when injuries cut his playing time.
“Last year was very important to me,” Brown said. “I just think it was a year for me to really establish myself, especially coming off a year of injuries. I think it gave me the opportunity to put myself out there and show what I can do and give myself a confidence boost to know that I can do more in the future with more opportunities.”
Healthier and more opportunities could give Brown a chance to become the first Virginia running back to gain more than 500 yards on the ground since Ellis back in ‘18. Brown said there’s plenty of candidates in the running backs room who want to surpass that 500-yard mark this season, and believe that an improved offensive line will give them a shot at doing so.
Let the big dogs eat.
Registration open for C’ville 4-Ball Championship
Photo: Meadowcreek Golf Course
Registration is open for the Charlottesville City Amateur Four Ball Championship.
The tournament, set for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 16-17, is a 36-hole, two-player team event (Better Ball, Scramble & Alternate Shot), with an 8-a.m. start. There will be divisional play, and your partner must be in the same division as you.
Here are the divisional breakdowns:
- Women, age 16 & over, red tees
- Regular men, 16-49, blue tees
- Senior men, 50-64, white tees
- Super senior men, 65-74, gold tees
- Super senior men – Legends, 75+, red tees
Pairing requests can be made for Round 1.
Cost is $180 – Guest $100. Pass holders (includes greens fees, cart fees, range balls, prizes). Practice rounds can be played Aug. 10 after 2:30 p.m. through Aug. 15 ($30 cart fee for guest. Standard cart fee for pass holders.
To register, go to Meadowcreekgolf.org. The registration deadline is Aug. 13.
Scattershooting: Villanova exhibition refreshing approach; Wahoo Euros rated high; Hootie’s nuggets
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: UVA Athletics
Scattershooting around UVA and the ACC, while noting how refreshing it is that Ryan Odom has taken a different approach to exhibition games …
Odom’s Cavaliers will host Villanova in an exhibition, which will be open to the public, on Oct. 24, the night before Tony Elliott’s football team plays Bill Belichick’s North Carolina squad in Chapel Hill (see related story about exhibition game details, tickets, etc., on this site).
This is so much better from a fan’s perspective, not only giving Wahoo fans an opportunity to see the “new” UVA team take on an opponent with new coaches from both programs trying to learn more about their personnel in live action, but just from the transparency perspective. In the past, Tony Bennett preferred to keep those scrimmages private, and fans — along with media — were kept in the dark about those contests, except what information seeped out from the “secret” games.
In addition, it’s another way for UVA’s athletic department to make a little extra revenue from ticket sales to the scrimmage.
Don’t know about you, but this is a terrific upgrade in terms of Odom’s approach to his program.
Europeans provide boost
Most of us felt like Virginia’s basketball team would be fun to watch this season because of the number of shooters recruited by Odom and his staff, plus an up-tempo offense.
But when Odom brought in a frontcourt that’s going to rival any UVA frontline in years, things got a lot more interesting.
Nick Kalinowski, who has expertise in the NBA draft, college hoops rosters and international basketball, put an apostrophe on Odom’s frontcourt when Kalinowski traced where the top 100 NCAA-age international recruits ended up. Kalinowski has his own system in rating the internationals, but his ratings make Virginia’s recruiting efforts appear amazing.
Kalinowski has Belgian power forward Thijs de Ridder ranked the No. 5 international coming to America and German center Johann Grunloh ranked No. 6. Both are on Virginia’s roster.
Two of the four internationals rated above de Ridder and Grunloh are with NBA teams, Noa Essengue with the Chicago Bulls and Bogoljub Markovic with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Louisville did well, too, landing No. 9 in the rankings, power forward Evangelos Zougris and No. 11, center Sananda Fru.
QB Morris not looking over shoulder
Unlike the last two training camps, when Tony Muskett and Anthony Colandrea were competing head-to-head for the starting quarterback job at Virginia, transfer Chandler Morris won’t have to worry.
Tony Elliott named Morris, who transferred from North Texas after throwing for a zillion yards last season, the starter ahead of time. Elliott believes this should help the offense become more comfortable in camp.
“I think the advantage is just clear direction in the summer to foster leadership in the locker room,” Elliott said this week. “There’s more of a consistent voice than trying to have two guys that are battling for the position and for leadership.
“So this gives us some direction so that the offense can gel, so the team can gel, so when we hit the grass, we’re not trying to make up that time.”
Hootie’s Golden Nuggets …
- NCAAF Nation ranks Virginia’s Jahmeer Carter the No. 21 interior defensive lineman in the country. Carter is a 6-2, 311-pound defensive tackle playing in his sixth season for the Cavaliers. He’s from Baltimore’s Archbishop Spalding.
- Interesting concept by Virginia football, which has teamed up with Costco to offer discounted two-ticket packages this season. Costco has the same arrangement with South Carolina, Louisville, Purdue, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Tulane and others. The packages vary from $49.99 to $99.99. Some include $20 food/beverage credit or a parking pass.
- Speaking of Costco, did you hear how new Stanford general manager Andrew Luck (former Colts QB) approached his old coach, Frank Reich, about taking the interim reins of the Cardinal football program? Reich was in Costco, shopping for strawberries, when Luck called and said he needed help and would Reich consider taking over coaching responsibilities. Reich was on a plane to California the next morning. Luck & Reich will bring Stanford to Charlottesville on Sept. 20 for a first-ever meeting between the two programs.
- Pro Football Focus has come out with the 10 easiest college football schedules in the country for this season: 1) Wake Forest; 2) Texas Tech; 3) Indiana; 4) Virginia; 5) BYU; 6) SMU; 7) Kansas; 8) North Carolina; 9) Houston; 10) Oklahoma State. So, four of the easiest eight schedules belong to ACC schools, and UVA plays two of ‘em.
- In a Twitter (X) conversation between two former UVA Bronco Mendenhall quarterbacks, Bryce Perkins and Kurt Benkert, it was Benkert who again confirmed the depth problem at Virginia. Benkert wrote: “Man I really miss UVA. We were so bad but we worked hard and to be honest, had a better record than our talent level should have. We had a few NFL guys but the depth drop off made it tough down the stretch.” Depth has been a problem at Virginia for years and years, but maybe not this time around (see my related story today about Tony Elliott’s response to being picked 14th in the ACC preseason poll and why depth could make a huge difference).
- We thought Virginia had a lot of new incoming players into its football program with 54, until we saw that North Carolina has 70. None of that compares, though, with Purdue, where new coach Barry Odom has 82 new players, either transfers or incoming freshmen. That’s 82 out of 119.
- LSU’s Brian Kelly gave Clemson some bulletin-board material when he referred to Clemson’s Memorial Stadium as “Death Valley Junior.” Both schools have claimed their stadiums to be the true Death Valley for years. LSU comes to Clemson for the opener on Aug. 30 in a huge showdown. Clemson’s T.J. Parker had an answer for Kelly’s remark at last week’s ACC Kickoff when he said: “[LSU] can have their opinion. We’re gonna handle all that on August 30. At the end of the day, we can do all the talking. We gonna see, you know what I’m saying? They’re hyping up everybody across the board, all these transfers they got. We’ll see.” Clemson was first referred to as Death Valley in 1948, while LSU’s Tiger Stadium wasn’t called Death Valley until 1959.
- We were heartbroken to learn of the passing of former Radford High School legendary football coach Norman Lineburg. He coached the Bobcats for 38 years, was one of the state’s winningest coaches and was inducted into the VHSL Hall of Fame in 1997 and retired as coach in 2007. Coach Lineburg nominated me for the first writing/coverage award of my career via the VHSL, something I’ll never forget. He always sent a Christmas card. Got to know two of his four sons, Wayne, who played football and became an assistant coach at UVA (then Wake, now Rice), and Robert, who is the AD at Radford University. #RIPcoach. We’ll miss you.
- UVA’s Luke Hanson signed with the Texas Rangers, in case you missed it.
- Jay Woolfolk has signed with the Atlanta Braves for the full bonus amount of $150,000.
- Chris Arroyo signed with the Florida Marlins, the fifth-round pick inking a deal worth $521,400.
- Georgia Tech just paid offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner $1.5 million for each of the next two seasons, the largest salary for an assistant coach in Yellow Jackets history.
- New math problem: If George is 73 and his girlfriend is 25, how much money does George have?
- The No. 2 running back prospect in the nation is from Louisa County. Savion Hiter (5-11, 200) is a 5-star who has already narrowed his list of final schools considered to four: Georgia, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio State. We can remember a time when the state’s top running backs flocked to UVA: Terry Kirby, Tiki Barber, Thomas Jones.
MBB: UVA to host Villanova in October exhibition contest
Courtesy UVA Media Relations
Photo: John Paul Jones Arena
Two of college basketball’s elite programs will clash in a high-profile preseason exhibition when Virginia hosts Villanova on Friday, Oct. 24, at John Paul Jones Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
The exhibition matchup features two national powerhouses with championship pedigrees. Virginia captured the NCAA title in 2019, while Villanova earned national championships in 2016 and 2018. Over the past decade, the Wildcats and Cavaliers have consistently ranked among the nation’s best, with Villanova tallying 255 wins (7th-most in Division I) and Virginia recording 243 wins (13th-most).
Tickets for UVA’s first-ever exhibition against a Division I opponent will be free of charge for season ticket members, who may claim up to the number of seats in their season ticket package at no cost, and can purchase additional general admission tickets starting today. Season ticket members will receive specific email communication regarding their exclusive access.
Courtside season ticket members may claim their seats through the same process.
JPJ suite holders will receive separate communication from the Virginia Athletics Foundation regarding suite reservations.
All other seats, except for courtside rows one and two, will be general admission seating for $25. Tickets will go on sale online at uvatix.com beginning Monday, Aug. 4, at 9 a.m.
Free parking is available first come first served in the JPJ garage, JPJ South, East and West lots, Emmett Ivy Garage (EIG) and The Park. Gates open at 6 p.m. Given the anticipated demand for premium seat locations, fans are encouraged to arrive early and park at EIG and The Park. A free fan shuttle will be available pregame and postgame at The Park, starting at 6 p.m.
UVA holds a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1981. The Cavaliers defeated the Wildcats 70-60 in a Hall of Fame Series event in Baltimore last season. UVA is 2-0 against Villanova in Charlottesville, including an 86-75 win over the Wildcats during their 2015-16 championship season.
Both programs feature new head coaches. UVA Dean and Markel Families Men’s Head Basketball Coach Ryan Odom has posted a 221-127 mark in 11 seasons, including a 52-21 record the past two seasons at VCU. Villanova’s Kevin Willard has a 335-249 mark in 18 seasons, including a 65-39 record the past three seasons at Maryland.
The exhibition provides UVA fans a first look at the 2025-26 Cavaliers, which includes newcomers Dallin Hall (BYU), Malik Thomas (San Francisco), Devin Tillis (UC Irvine), Jacari White (North Dakota State), Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State), Sam Lewis (Toledo), Martin Carrere (VCU), Silas Barksdale (Woodside High School), Thijs De Ridder (Bilbao Basket), Johann Grünloh (RASTA Vechta) and Chance Mallory (St. Anne’s Belfield). They are joined by redshirt sophomores Elijah Gertrude, Carter Lang and Desmond Roberts, who return from last year’s squad.
Fans interested in becoming season-ticket members for Virginia men’s basketball can join the waitlist here. Single-game, group and mini-plan ticket information will be available later in the fall at uvatix.com.
ACC picks UVA 14th; Elliott to team: ‘Y’all believe it?’ … ‘hell no’
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo by Jon Golden
Tony Elliott was aware that the ACC’s preseason football poll was coming out Wednesday, but he decided to wait to inform his team where it was predicted by media from last week’s ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte.
Elliott will delay telling his team the results — UVA was picked to finish 14th in the 17-team league — until Thursday, although most of them will likely already know by then.
Because of the offseason talent acquisition through the transfer portal, a king’s ransom in NIL packages spent, one of the lightest schedules among ACC teams and seven home games, most media that regularly covers the Cavaliers believe Virginia will finish higher than predicted. This sportswriter is one of them.
But I wanted to know what Elliott truly thought about the vote that has UVA finishing ahead of only Cal (15th), Wake (16th) and Stanford (17th). You can find complete polling results at the end of this column. So, I asked him, knowing that coaches usually have a disdain for preseason polls, but did he think his program was being judged on past performances, or did ACC media sleep on the Cavaliers a bit, and will he use the poll to motivate his team?
Elliott opened up and delivered some meaningful answers to all those questions and more, perhaps ranting a little, while providing honest responses.
Motivation?
“Yeah, I’ll talk about it one time, right?” Elliott said. “Because I’d rather them hear it from me and let me address it. I didn’t want to talk about it before the first practice … I wanted them to go out and just focus on the day.
“So I have an opportunity [Thursday] morning just to say, ‘Boys, this is what the world thinks about us. Y’all believe it?’ And they’re going to say, hell no. Then we’re moving on and we’re not going to talk about it again.”
Elliott takes preseason polls for what they are, educated guesses, even more so in the wacky sports environment of today. With practically every team restocking its roster via the portal, it’s more challenging for anyone voting in polls to keep up with the changes.
“We’re better than we were last year, so I’ll take (14th),” the coach said. “At least they didn’t put us in the same spot they had us last year (16th out of 17, ahead of only Stanford). So at least they acknowledged some progress that we’re making, but it’s really hard to tell because pretty much everybody’s got a new team, so I think some of it is you have to go off of historical data and you try to look at the amount of returners.”
Virginia has 54 new players on its roster, which may seem like a lot until you consider that Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team has 70 new players.
Elliott said that his team knows, and he’ll remind them that nothing externally is going to get Virginia where it wants to go. All that will have to come internally, via culture and the process.
Sure, he will mention it, poke his players with the outside disrespect, but at the same time, knows what that’s worth. Those types of motivation wear off quickly.
“I’m excited because I think we have the best roster that we’ve had and we’ve done some good things at times with less, so I’m excited to see this group have a little bit more and see what we can do,” Elliott said. “At the end of the day, if we underachieve, I’ll be the first one to tell you that we underachieved.”
What he’s not going to do is come out and tell his team that the pollsters were accurate, that they have no chance.
“I’m not going to tell these young men to work as hard as they can to be average or see themselves as average. Man, they want to win. I ain’t worried about what they say in the preseason. The only poll that matters is the one that comes out at the end of the season.”
The frustrating part of this for Elliott is the inference that the poll suggests he tells his team that it can’t get to where it wants to go.
“We know how hard it’s going to be, but man, why would we not believe that we can be playing on Dec. 6?” Elliott said. “We’re not going to let that poll define us and we darn sure ain’t gonna let people make us think less of ourselves.”
There’s plenty of evidence, at least on paper, as to why Elliott and his coaching staff are fired up about this season, his fourth at the helm of the Virginia program. The Cavaliers brought in 31 new players via the transfer portal, much in part to a generous NIL package that allowed the staff to acquire much more talent and depth than has been the norm in this program for a long, long time.
Each assistant coach I talked with at last Friday’s get together went out of their way to say they had never experienced an offseason like this one, that the three previous years compared to this one was like day to night.
Tyler Jones, the recently appointed football GM, said Friday that he’s heard other programs say they were surprised that Virginia had managed to land some of the talent, not realizing that things had drastically changed within the UVA program.
The Cavaliers’ transfer portal class was ranked among the top 24 in the nation, which is a dramatic reversal from a year ago.
At the end of last season, I distinctly remember Elliott saying that the biggest difference he had noticed between his program and Virginia Tech’s was depth.
I asked him Wednesday if that problem no longer existed, because it appears that Virginia has not only depth, but experienced, playable depth all over the field.
For years now, the offensive line coach and the secondary coach had to nervously see who reported healthy to practice and often had to put together patchwork units, playing guys out of position or with little experience to plug the holes. That shouldn’t be the case this year. In fact, depth on the O-Line and secondary should be the best it has been in years.
“We’re very hopeful,” Elliott said Wednesday. “We feel like we targeted the right guys (in the portal), we addressed some needs that we had from a body-type standpoint, some length, some speed at specific positions, but in particular, in the trenches.
“Man, I just tell the staff all the time, especially the defensive side of the ball, man, I just want us to look like the other teams that we play against, because it seems like every offense and defense we play against, they’re rolling out 8 to 12 defensive linemen. When you have that kind of depth, it makes a difference.”
Elliott knows he has the depth in place, wants to stay healthy and rotate all of his players to keep them fresh for four quarters, likely a huge key in one-score games, which a lot of ACC games come down to.
Fourteenth? I beg to differ. Here’s how the ACC pollsters saw it:
2025 ACC Football Predicted Order of Finish (Media Vote)
Rk Team – Points
1. Clemson (167) – 3083
2. Miami (7) – 2679
3. SMU (2) – 2612
4. Georgia Tech (2) – 2397
5. Louisville – 2370
6. Duke – 1973
7. Florida State (4) – 1920
8. North Carolina – 1611
9. Pitt – 1571
10. NC State – 1505
11. Virginia Tech (1) – 1412
12. Syracuse – 1381
13. Boston College – 953
14. Virginia – 871
15. California – 659
16. Wake Forest – 576
17. Stanford – 426
First-place votes in parentheses
183 media voters
‘Jerry & Jerry’ go in depth on Virginia football
“The Jerry & Jerry Show” shifted focus on this week’s podcast to Virginia football training camp, which is now underway, and what the expectations may be for the Cavaliers. The daring duo also take a look at the rest of the ACC, the latest gossip about ACC football and answer tons of questions from our live audience. Here’s the podcast version:
The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines:
Tyler Jones Named UVA Football General Manager
Jones Will Run Cap Of Football, Hoops, Baseball
Takeaways From 2025 ACC Media Days
Tony Elliott Gives Insight Into His Play Calling Role
Coastal Carolina at Virginia, 8/30, 6 PM Kickoff
Varina Defensive Tackle Picks UVA Over Va Tech
UVA Football Training Camp Starts This Week
NC Central Coach Claims Virginia Tech Tampered
Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air
Follow The Jerry & Jerry Show on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-i-love-cville-show-with-jerry-miller/id1473278344
Follow The Jerry & Jerry Show on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vPYSxtueet3r8GHNboJs3
The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network.
Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.
Hokies accused of tampering with RB who ended up at UVA
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo by Kevin L. Dorsey | NC Central
North Carolina Central coach Trei Oliver accused Virginia Tech of tampering on Friday during an interview in Raleigh, part of the Bill Dooley Pigskin Preview.
Oliver told media that Tech was at a NC Central game, trying to recruit running back J’Mari Taylor, who later signed with UVA as a grad transfer through the portal.
“Virginia Tech was actually on my sideline recruiting our running back,” Oliver said.
The NC Central coach reported that before the Eagles’ game in Durham last Nov. 15, he recognized a Virginia Tech staff member on Central’s sideline. When Oliver asked why the Tech staffer was on the sideline, he was told that the Tech staffer was there to visit George “Bulldog” Smith, a NC Central assistant AD.
Taylor, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards last season, was brilliant that day, picking up 206 yards on the ground in the game and scoring three touchdowns in a Central win over Howard.
“That was pretty bold,” Oliver said last Friday. “I couldn’t believe it. A couple coaches tried to calm me down and say, ‘Yeah, Coach, he’s just down here visiting.’ But I knew what it was.”
Oliver didn’t reveal the Tech staffer’s name or his running back, but did divulge the player ended up at Virginia, signing an NIL package worth $400,000. Taylor is the only NC Central player on the UVA roster.
“We won the game and two weeks later, my kid got in the portal,” Oliver said. “Then [Virginia Tech] were the first people trying to get in his ear. Thank God he went to UVA, and UVA is going to beat the smoke out of them other folks.”
Virginia Tech has since issued this statement:
“We were made aware Friday afternoon of a public comment suggesting a potential NCAA rules concern involving a member of our coaching staff. This is the first time the issue has been brought to our attention, and no concern has previously been shared with us through any formal channel.
“Virginia Tech takes all NCAA rules seriously and is committed to conducting our program with integrity. We are reviewing the matter internally and will address any findings appropriately.”
UVA makes cut for state’s top PF, Allmond, and Top 40 SF
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Photo: Made Hoops
Virginia has made the cut list for two of the top 40 forwards in the nation for the recruiting class of 2026, and one of those blue-chippers is close to home.
Petersburg High School’s Lattrell Allmond, a 6-foot-8 power forward, listed Virginia as one of nine schools he is now considering: UVA, Tennessee, Kansas, Arizona, Michigan State, Indiana, Miami, Oklahoma State and Maryland.
In the process, Allmond eliminated the following schools: Alabama, LSU, NC State, Michigan, Utah, Texas A&M, Missouri, Washington, Cincinnati, Rutgers and others.
Meanwhile, Billy White III, a 6-8 small forward, has included Virginia in his top 10, which also includes: LSU, TCU, Kansas State, Stanford, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Maryland.
White, a top-40 prospect in the class of 2026, is a 4-star who has scheduled six official visits, including a trip to UVA in late August.
Getting back to Petersburg’s Allmond, a 4-star prospect, he’s rated by Rivals as the No. 2 overall recruit in the state of Virginia, the No. 5 power forward in the nation and the country’s No. 25 prospect regardless of position.
He has unofficially visited UVA, Tennessee and Oklahoma State. He has officially visited Indiana and has a trip to Kansas planned on Aug. 28.
Allmond, a very physical player, was a standout at this summer’s NBAPA Top 100 camp. Playing for Team Loaded – Virginia, he is presently averaging 15 points, 7.5 rebounds per game and shooting 3-pointers at a 47.1 clip.
