UVA Football coach Tony Elliott said Wednesday that the program is exploring the possibility of trying to get a seventh year of eligibility for starting QB Chandler Morris.
“Yeah, there’s been some talks with Chandler of possibly … still that’s to be determined. Not going to say if that’s going to happen or not. We’re planning as if it’s not,” Elliott said, speaking with reporters at a press availability set up to discuss the 2026 prep recruiting class.
This Morris news isn’t something that had been on my radar, to say the least, but I can see it.
Morris projects, and this is being optimistic, as an undrafted free agent in the 2026 NFL Draft class, which translates to: get a shot in mini-camp, sink or swim, at best, if you swim, get a shot in the summer at being a third-string/practice-squad guy.
Not a lot of money there, whereas his NIL value at Virginia would be seven figures.
The complicating factor: Morris has been in college longer than John Blutarsky.
OK, not quite, not yet, but if he were to return to Virginia for the fall, it would be Morris’ seventh college season, which would tie him with the future United States senator.
Morris started out way, way back in 2020 at Oklahoma, where he was a redshirt as a true freshman, before transferring to TCU.
This is where things get tricky, maybe in a good way, for both Morris and UVA Football.
Morris’ 2021 and 2022 seasons were both cut short by injuries, with him having only played four games in each.
Four games is the cutoff for a redshirt.
The argument can thus be made that all three of his first three years in college – 2020, the COVID year, and the 2021 and 2022 years, both cut short by injury – should be counted as washes.
That would mean his eligibility clock would only have started ticking in 2023, which was also cut short by an injury, albeit seven games in.
The thinking then would be, Morris’ 2024 season at North Texas would have been his sophomore season, and the current 2025 season at Virginia would be his junior year.
Stranger things have happened – for instance, one of the 2025 Heisman Trophy frontrunners, Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, was able to get approval for a sixth full season of college ball; Pavia played 21 games in two seasons at the JUCO level before getting 23 starts in two seasons at New Mexico State, then moving on to Vandy in 2024.
Now that guy is trying to push Donald Trump into intervening to get Vanderbilt into the College Football Playoff; I hope karma comes back to bite him on that, and it loses him some Heisman votes.
Back to Virginia, and Chandler Morris: as Elliott made clear, whatever happens there with the NCAA is still to be determined.
But come on, they’re letting G-League castoffs play college basketball these days.
Support AFP
Share
Chris Graham
