UVA Injury report, team notebook, player notebook

By Jerry Ratcliffe

It appeared that Virginia escaped Saturday night’s win over visiting Stanford in relatively good health.

Starting center Brady Wilson, a transfer from Central Florida, left the game with a lower leg injury and was replaced by starting right guard Drake Metcalf, a former Stanford Cardinal.

“We’re very hopeful that [Wilson’s injury] is not more than a calf strain, but I won’t know for sure until the doctors check it,” Tony Elliott said in his postgame.

O-Line Still Clean on Sacks … Sort of

Virginia’s offensive line had not given up a sack in its first three games of the season, but saw that streak end against The Cardinal. Well, sort of.

While Stanford was credited with a sack of UVA quarterback Chandler Morris, Elliott said he was giving his O-Line a mulligan.

“I told Chandler that [sack] was on him,” Elliott chuckled. “I told him he’s got to throw that ball out of bounds on that drop play and he will next time. So I told Noah (Josey, offensive left guard) they still got four games with no sacks, so that was on Chandler.”

Morris, who threw for four touchdowns and ran for another, laughed when he heard Elliott’s comments about giving him the sack.

“It was a quarterback draw, so I was afraid that one of my O-Linemen was going to be downfield and I held it, seemed like I held onto the ball for 15 seconds, trying to get out of there,” Morris explained. “I figured somebody’s going to be downfield offensive line-wise. I didn’t want to get us a penalty, so I just kind of took a 1- or 2-yard loss on it. So, yeah, it kind of sucks that it goes in that category and I made sure to apologize to [the O-Line].”

Hot under the collar

Elliott was spotted getting into his team fairly intensely between the third and fourth quarter, something he explained afterward.

“So the message that I told the team was, and it’s relative to life, is that a lot of times we don’t see the potential that we have and it takes others to see that potential in us,” Elliott said. “I wasn’t really happy with how we ended the first half. I thought we had an opportunity there to come away with points and it was self-inflicted penalties, and then we missed the field goal and had a big play bust. We went from potentially going up four scores to now, a 14-point swing. I was challenging that halftime like we can’t be complacent and we can’t be afraid. Just play and do not take your foot off the gas.”

Florida State coming Friday night

The seventh-ranked Seminoles improved to 3-0 Saturday with a 66-10 win over Kent State and will play Virginia on Friday night at Scott Stadium (7 p.m., ESPN). FSU defeated Alabama 31-17 in the season opener in Tuscaloosa and hammered East Texas A&M 77-3 the following week.

It will be a huge test for Elliott’s Cavaliers. So, how will Elliott approach this game psychologically with his team?

“Don’t make it bigger than what it is,” Elliott said about what his message will be to his team. “At the end of the day, it’s a conference game. It’s the next step in this progression. Don’t try to be super human but have a good understanding of your opponent, what you’re going up against and then you’ve got to prepare to the standard.

“You’ve got to block out the noise. Everybody’s going to be excited. It’s a primetime game. There’s all these things associated with it, but it’s still about the preparation. You’ve got to protect the quarterback, you’ve got to win the line of scrimmage and you’ve got to communicate.”

Team Notes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

• Saturday’s contest was the first-ever meeting between Virginia and Stanford. With the win, UVA improved to 6-1 in its last seven meetings with first-time opponents. 

• For the second consecutive year, Virginia has three wins in its first four games. 

• For the first time since 2020, UVA has won its ACC opener in back-to-back seasons. 

• The Cavaliers also improved to 3-13 all-time when playing ACC opponent for the very first time, dating back to 1954, its first season in the league. UVA has won three of its last four such contests. 

• UVA is 43-22-1 all-time in night games under the Scott Stadium lights, and dating back to 2018, and has won 12 of its last 16 games at night in Charlottesville. The last home win over an ACC opponent at night came against Georgia Tech in 2021 (48-40). 

• Virginia scored on the opening drive for the third-straight game. UVA went 65 yards on seven plays in 2:26. 

• Virginia scored touchdowns on its first four drives. The Cavaliers’ first of two punts in the contest was the first in 23-straight drives dating back to their game at NC State (9/6). 

• The Cavalier offense produced its second, one-play drive of the season with a 75-yard strike from Chandler Morris to Trell Harris in the first quarter. It marked the 13^th one-play drive over 75 yards in program history.  

• Saturday’s contest marked the third game of the season in which UVA had at least 28 points at halftime (28 vs. Coastal Carolina, 42 vs. William & Mary, 28 vs. Stanford). 

• UVA had 401 yards of total offense at the half (279 passing, 122 rushing). 

• For the first time since 2004, UVA has rushed for 200 yards in three straight games. The Cavaliers finished with 206 yards against Stanford. 

• Virginia’s offense finished with 590 yards of total offense, including 384 yards through the air. It marks the second time this season UVA’s offense recorded at least 590 yards, having set the program’s single-game record of 700 in last week’s win over William & Mary. 

• Under Tony Elliott (since 2022), the Cavaliers have now recorded at least 500 yards of total offense in six games, including all four in 2025.  

• UVA, which entered Saturday’s contest as the nation’s leader in total touchdowns, finished with six to bring its total on the season to 23. 

• Virginia’s offense was sacked for the first time this season with 1:14 remaining in the third quarter. The last time UVA did not allow a sack in three consecutive games was in 2011. 

• With receptions by Jayden Thomas and Harrison Waylee, sixteen different UVA receivers have caught a pass this year. 

Player Notes

• Trell Harris finished with career highs in receiving yards (145) and touchdown receptions (3). His 75-yard reception in the first quarter was the longest of his career and the longest pass play by the Cavaliers since 2023 (Colandrea to Pace vs. JMU). 

• Harris is the first Virginia wide receiver with three touchdowns in a game since Olamide Zaccheaus hauled in three scores in the 2018 Belk Bowl against South Carolina. Since 1995, only four Cavaliers have had three receiving touchdowns in a game – Harris, Zaccheaus, Canaan Severin (2015 at Louisville) and Wali Lundy (2003 at NC State). 

• On the 75-yard completion to Harris, quarterback Chandler Morris went over 7,000 yards for his career. Entering the week, he was one of 17 active FBS QBs with 6,800+ yards passing. 

• Morris tied his career high of five total touchdowns. While at North Texas, Morris also had five TDs against Tulsa and South Alabama in 2024. 

• Kicker Will Bettridge converted on two of his three field goal attempts (28, 26) and was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra points. His 12 points moved him into a tie for fifth place with Thomas Jones (240 points) on UVA’s all-time scoring list. 

• J’Mari Taylor led the Cavaliers with 85 yards rushing on 15 carries. His 14-game streak of scoring a rushing touchdown came to an end. 

• Linebacker Kam Robinson, safety Antonio Clary and defensive end Mekhi Buchanan made their season debuts Saturday. All three missed UVA’s first three games of the 2025 season due to injury. Robinson led the team in tackles with seven and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.  

• Cam Ross led the Cavaliers with seven receptions, his second seven-reception game of the season. In the process, he eclipsed the 2,000-yard receiving mark for his career after catching the first two passes of the game. He entered week four at No. 11 on the NCAA’s active career leaders in receiving yards behind former Cavalier and current Notre Dame wideout, Malachi Fields. 

• Sophomore Daniel Kaelin threw his first collegiate touchdown pass, a four-yard pass to Eli Wood. The touchdown reception for Wood was also the first of his career.