UVA QB Morris: Quick trigger, great touch, grinder and a bit bull-headed; All you need to know

By Jerry Ratcliffe

When Virginia began its national search for a starting quarterback, the coaching staff wanted to bring in two players, one younger and one older.

The Cavaliers first secured the younger candidate, former Nebraska redshirt freshman Daniel Kaelin, who had four years of eligibility remaining. Then UVA went shopping for a veteran, someone who could walk in and start.

Tony Elliott and his staff looked at several possibilities, but there was something about Chandler Morris that clicked. Morris, whose father was a former colleague with Elliott on the Clemson staff, had everything UVA was looking for: a big arm, a high football IQ and experience. After having an outstanding season at North Texas in 2024, Morris had lots of suitors, including Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Central Florida, Memphis and West Virginia.

Morris felt comfortable with Elliott, having memories of the old Clemson days when the two coaching families were close. As a youngster, he spent plenty of time around Elliott.

Virginia certainly wanted the Texas gunslinger, who had led the Mean Green to a No. 3 finish nationally in total offense and was ranked No. 23 in the country in scoring, as opposed to UVA, which was ranked No. 105 in the latter category.

Once the Cavaliers were successful in convincing Morris to sign with the Orange & Blue, the offensive coaches — Elliott, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb — agreed on one major objective.

“The plan for Chandler coming in was, we’ve got to let him be himself,” said Lamb. “We can’t put him in a box and say, ‘That’s how we do things.’ Instead, we asked ourselves, what is this guy good at? What’s he comfortable with?”

Certainly, Morris had an eye-popping resume, from his high school days in Texas to playing at Oklahoma, then TCU, then North Texas before landing at Virginia. He wants to play in the NFL, and the Cavaliers coaches have some NFL terminology in their offensive system and some other NFL facets, including taking snaps under center.

There has been a healthy give-and-take from Morris and the staff on fashioning the playbook to his strengths, eliminating things he didn’t like.

“He’s been in three or four different offenses in his time and he’s got his dad’s offense in mind too, because he’s had that since he was a young child,” said Lamb. “He’s a coach’s kid that knows ball, knows how a locker room works.”

Lamb knows a little about that himself, considering he was raised in a football family. His father, Bobby Lamb, coached at Furman from 1986 to 2010 (the last eight years as head coach), and as also head coach at Mercer, and is in his second year as head coach at the new program at Anderson (S.C.) University. Taylor Lamb started 49 games at quarterback for Appalachian State, where he passed for nearly 10,000 yards and 90 touchdowns.

No wonder Lamb and Morris hit it off from the start. Lamb said that having a quarterback with so much experience is a coach’s best friend.

“He can handle a ton mentally,” Lamb said. “Just from a lot of experience playing football, but also being a coach’s kid, he can decipher a defense and say, ‘Hey, we’re not in a good call … we’re in a bad look here,’ and get us out of it. And that can be the difference in a 5-yard run and a 1-yard run. It’s moving the chains. Just little things of that nature can really help.”

Consider the experiences Morris has had beyond being the son of Chad Morris. He began his college career at Oklahoma, and actually scored the Sooners’ first touchdown in the 2020 Big 12 Championship Game as a true freshman. He played in five games that season as backup to Spencer Rattler.

When Caleb Williams showed up in Norman the following season, Morris asked Lincoln Riley for a scholarship release. Williams, of course, went on to follow Riley to Southern Cal where he won the Heisman Trophy and was last year’s No. 1 NFL Draft choice by the Chicago Bears.

Morris ended up at TCU, where he played three seasons, including the national championship runner-up team, starting the season but sidelined by a knee injury. He went on to play 15 games for the Horned Frogs, posting 2,394 yards passing and 16 touchdowns while rushing for 356 yards and four scores. His best year was in 2023, with 1,532 yards, 12 TDs, 5 interceptions over seven games, completing 66 percent of his attempts.

In 2024, Morris moved on to North Texas and put up spectacular numbers in 12 games: 322 completions, 512 attempts, 3,774 yards, 31 TDs, 12 interceptions, 63 percent completions. He ranked No. 4 in the nation in TD passes behind only Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward and Cade Klubnick, in addition to finishing No. 5 nationally in passing yards per game (314.5).

Lamb has been delighted with every aspect of Morris’ game.

“Chandler has a quick trigger, like super quick trigger,” Lamb said. “He can spread it from hash to sideline, sideline to hash. He can make all the throws from that nature. He can get the ball out quick, has quick hands.

“For a shorter guy (Morris is 6-feet, 190 pounds), he’s really good in the pocket. That’s tough on short guys, because they’re trying to find their throwing lanes. But he’s really good in the pocket and he’s exceptional out of the pocket, making plays.”

In fact, as the summer workouts and training camp progressed, Lamb was surprised at how much touch Morris has with the ball. He can rip it and he can layer throws. He understands how much and what kind of touch he needs to apply to his passes.

Lamb was also pleasantly surprised that Morris is faster afoot than he realized.

“We saw him on tape a couple of times taking off, but we didn’t realize how quick he was until we saw it in person. We saw that this past spring. He can really stick his foot in the ground and go north and south,” Lamb said.

“He’ll tell you the first couple of workouts, he looked like an old man out there,” Lamb laughed.

Morris is 24 years old, the same age as NFL Washington Commanders’ second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels.

With that age and experience, Morris naturally gained the respect of his teammates and has exhibited leadership in instilling confidence in a team with 54 new faces that it can come together and put together Virginia’s best season since the 2019 Coastal Division championship squad that played in the Orange Bowl.

Nowhere is that confidence and respect more important than in the huddle.

“We talk about the huddle a ton,” Lamb said. “The huddle is precious, the place where a quarterback can lead the most. No clowns in the huddle. And Chandler takes command of the huddle. He has that vocal ability and people listen to him.”

At previous stops, Morris didn’t have much huddle experience, but has adapted to it this year. He’s earned the respect of the other guys in the huddle, which isn’t easy for a one-year guy to do.

Morris is intentional, a solid communicator, a player who wants to get things right.

“He’s bull-headish,” Lamb said with a smile. “But that’s kind of the lead-from-the-front that you need from a quarterback — a guy who can take over a room.”

Morris is a grinder, a little undersized with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, driving him to excel at everything he does. Make no mistake about it, though, he’s a football guy.

If anyone doubts his ambition, then check out what Morris said back during spring practice this year when he was asked why he chose Virginia.

“I didn’t come all the way to Virginia as a Texas boy to win five, six games,” Morris said. “I want to win the conference championship. That’s my goal, coming all this way.”