Jamshid “Jim” Bakhtiar, a former Virginia football All-American, passed away on Sunday, Jan. 9. He was 88 years old.

Virginia football coach Tony Elliott announced today the hiring of Kevin Downing as an assistant coach. Downing will coach on the Cavaliers’ defensive side of the ball.

When Tony Elliott was introduced as Virginia’s new head football coach a few weeks ago, one of the faces in the crowd to greet him was former Cavaliers All-American Chris Slade.

According to Yahoo Sports reporter Pete Thamel, former Virginia All-American defensive end Chris Slade is returning to the Cavaliers’ coaching staff along with two other coaches expected to be hired in the coming days: Army wide receiver coach Keith Gaither and Navy defensive line coach Kevin Downing.

Tony Elliott has hired his new offensive coordinator, Des Kitchings, according to Atlanta Falcons’ head coach Arthur Smith.

Tony Elliott has his eyes on luring Purdue co-defensive coordinator Brad Lambert, and is also looking at Navy defensive coordinator Brian Newberry as a possibility to join his new Virginia coaching staff.

While Virginia entered the New Year with the most football players on the FBS side of the transfer portal (19), the Cavaliers have reached out with offers to a couple of linemen that left other programs.

Wayne Taulapapa, the Cavaliers’ regular starting running back for the past three years, announced on his Twitter account on Thursday that he plans to leave the program.

Long-time Clemson SID Tim Bourret joins “The Jerry Ratcliffe Show” to share with us his favorite stories of new Virginia football Tony Elliott, dating back to when Elliott walked on at Clemson in 1999.

Dr. Winston Gwathmey joins “The Jerry Ratcliffe Show” to give us a glimpse into the cancellation of the Wasabi Fenway Bowl due to COVID.

Jerry Ratcliffe welcomes Chris Graham to the show to discuss the latest offseason news with Virginia Football.

All-American center Olusegun Oluwatimi completed wiping out UVA’s line on Monday when he announced that he has transferred to Michigan.

Joe Bissinger, who played left guard for the Cavaliers the past couple of seasons, announced on his Twitter account Monday that he will transfer to SMU.

One of the top returning defensive players for Virginia, linebacker Noah Taylor, has committed to play for North Carolina.

According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, sources indicate that Virginia has targeted Atlanta Falcons running backs coach Des Kitchings for the Cavaliers’ offensive coordinator position.

Tony Elliott has retained three assistant coaches from Bronco Mendenhall’s staff, including wide receivers coach Marques Hagans, offensive line coach Garett Tujague and defensive line coach Clint Sintim.

Virginia’s starting offensive left tackle Bobby Haskins will finish his football career for Lincoln Riley at Southern Cal.

According to reports out of Syracuse, the Orange will hire two former Virginia assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Robert Anae and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck, for the same positions on the Orange coaching staff.