Virginia adds receiver, center, linebacker from portal on Friday

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia continued to bolster its football roster via the transfer portal on Friday, adding a trio of players, giving the Cavaliers a total of 10 new faces.

Joining UVA’s program on Friday was former Purdue wide receiver Jahmal Edrine, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound wideout who gives Cavalier quarterbacks a bigger target that replaces Malachi Fields.

Edrine, who has two years of eligibility remaining, played two seasons at Florida Atlantic before moving on to Purdue for the 2023 season. A training camp knee injury forced him to sit out the ‘23 campaign, but Edrine was one of the better players for the hapless Boilermakers (1-11) in 2024. He hauled in 23 receptions for 365 yards and two scores on an anemic offense. His 365 receiving yards were the most by any Purdue wideout last season.

While at Florida Atlantic, Edrine had 39 receptions for 570 yards and six touchdowns before transferring to Purdue.

Brady Wilson, a highly coveted center from UAB, and Maddox Marcellus, a linebacker from Eastern Kentucky, have also committed to the Cavaliers.

Wilson is a 6-2, 300-pound standout who started the past three seasons for UAB, with 37 games and 2,300 snaps under his belt. He was on the Rimington Trophy Watch List the past two seasons and was considered as one of the highest-ranked available linemen in the portal.

A native of Spanish Bay, Ala., Wilson also held offers from Houston, Mississippi State and Tulane. Having given up only two sacks on 485 dropbacks in 2023, Wilson is expected to replace departed UVA center Brian Stevens and boost an offensive line that surrendered 47 sacks last season, next-to-last out of 131 FBS teams.

Marcellus did a bang-up job for Eastern Kentucky in 2024, unanimously voted to the All-United Athletic Conference first team. He posted 97 total tackles (46 solos), 7 tackles for loss, intercepted 2 passes, broke up 5 more passes, forced a fumble and recovered one.

Marcellus has two years of eligibility remaining.

The 6-3, 225-pound linebacker is a native of Miami, Fla., and held offers from Indiana, Kansas State, Iowa State, Houston, Cal and Michigan State, taking a visit to Houston, but cancelling a scheduled trip to Kansas State after making his official visit to Charlottesville on Friday.

The transfer portal will close on Dec. 29, so Tony Elliott hopes to close the deal on several more players prior to that deadline.

Here is a list of UVA incoming players from the portal thus far:

• Chandler Morris, quarterback, North Texas. One year of eligibility remaining.
• Daniel Kaelin, quarterback, Nebraska. Four years of eligibility remaining.
• Devin Neal, safety, Louisville. One year of eligibility remaining.
• Ja’son Prevard, cornerback, Morgan State. Two years of eligibility remaining.
• Cazeem Moore, defensive end, Elon. One year of eligibility remaining.
• Jacob Holmes, defensive tackle, Fresno State. One year of eligibility remaining.
• Brady Wilson, center, UAB. One year of eligibility remaining.
• J’Mari Taylor, running back, N.C. Central. One year of eligibility remaining.
• Maddox Marcellus, linebacker, Eastern Kentucky. Two years of eligibility remaining.
• Jahmal Edrine, wide receiver, Purdue. Two years of eligibility remaining.