Not grading on a curve this year, because this year’s UVA Football team looks like the real deal.
You give the head coach $30 million to build a roster, you expect him to build a roster.
“Appreciate Carla Williams and the administration for all that they did this offseason to help us put together the best roster that we possibly could to give us a chance to compete,” the coach, Tony Elliott, told reporters after his team’s 48-7 beatdown of Coastal Carolina on Saturday night.
Virginia was a mere 13.5-point favorite going in, after losing six of its last seven in 2024 to finish 5-7, dropping Elliott’s record through three seasons in Charlottesville to 11-23.
The consensus on the outside: Elliott was coming into the 2025 season very much on the hot seat.
This one wasn’t supposed to be 48-7, or anything close to that.
It’s one game, but, man, that team we saw last night looked like one that’s ready to play with the big boys.
“Super proud of the guys, man, really, really proud of our senior leadership. What they’ve been able to do is not easy. You bring in 54 new guys, 32 new transfers, and they’ve really done a good job of coming together as a team,” Elliott said.
“Really, really proud of the guys that were here, and also proud of the guys that came in, that kind of put their ego to the side, put the team first. And this is just kind of the, in our minds, the floor of where we start,” Elliott said.
Perfect lead-in for me to begin the first report card of the 2025 season.
Offense
Chandler Morris (76.0 Pro Football Focus grade) grades out at B+ on my ledger, and I’m going there, and not A-, because he didn’t slide on what would be the final play of his debut, a 28-yard scramble on which he took a helmet-to-helmet hit, and left with a left shoulder injury.
Morris, through two quarters and one series, was 19-of-27 for 264 yards and two TDs through the air, and had a team-best 50 yards on the ground, with 41 of those yards coming on scrambles.
He was 4-of-4 for 21 yards on passes at the line of scrimmage, 9-of-12 for 63 yards on passes inside of 10 yards through the air, 4-of-8 for 103 yards on passes that traveled 10-19 yards through the air, and 2-of-3 for 77 yards on passes that traveled 20-yards-plus through the air.
All of this, after starting just 1-of-5, with a 13-yard completion, on Virginia’s first three drives, which ended with a missed field goal, a turnover on downs, and a punt.
“It just took them a little bit of time,” Elliott said. “You got to remember, too, like, you know, that’s the first time we’ve had any game snaps with Chandler at quarterback. So, we knew it was going to be a little bit of cat and mouse early on with, they got a new defensive coordinator, right, so you can only prepare so much.
“What I’m most pleased with is, we didn’t turn the ball over on offense, right, and that’s what a veteran quarterback does as he’s finding his rhythm, you know, you try not to put the ball in jeopardy until you can get settled in. And then, new coordinator, new quarterback, you know, they got to get a feel for each other,” Elliott said.
“I thought we did a good job of finally getting settled in, to be able to, you know, put some plays together to get him rolling. And once he got rolling, what you saw was the gamesmanship, you know, that he brings his ability to control the offense, get the outlet screens on the perimeter when he needs to, pull the ball on the zone read when he needs to.”
“Biggest thing is, we just gotta get him to slide, gotta get him to go feet-first when he when he slides,” Elliott said.
The receivers
This group is as deep and talented as any we’ve seen in the orange and blue dating to the George Welsh years.
Cam Ross in the slot reminds me of Malik Washington, who had 111 catches two years ago, and is in the NFL now.
Jahmal Edrine, at 6’3″, 220, will make us forget Malachi Fields.
Trell Harris is a burner on the edge, and Dakota Twitty, at 6’5″, 245, is a former four-star recruit as a wideout who grew into being a tight end.
- Slot receiver Cam Ross (seven catches on nine targets, 124 yards, 1 TD, 86.4 PFF grade) gets at A.
- Wideout Trell Harris (three catches on five targets, 93 yards, 73.7 PFF grade) gets a B+.
- Wideout Jahmal Edrine (three catches on three targets, 24 yards, 1 TD, 66.7 PFF grade) gets a B.
- Tight end Dakota Twitty (two catches on four targets, 15 yards, 51.4 PFF grade) gets a C-.
Tailbacks
This group disappointed me a bit – gaining a modest 125 yards on 36 attempts.
I’ll go all Bs for the backs:
- J’Mari Taylor: 10 carries, 32 yards, 2 TDs, 68.8 PFF grade
- Noah Vaughn: 10 carries, 45 yards, 61.4 PFF grade
- Xavier Brown: eight carries, 28 yards, 61.2 PFF grade
- Harrison Waylee: seven carries, 18 yards, 1 TD, 60.3 PFF grade
O line
They kept the QBs upright – no sacks, six total pressures – so, mission accomplished there.
Another mission accomplished: 15 guys got snaps in the game.
“The goal is to get as many guys on the field that can get as many reps as we can, and you know, when we’re dominating up there on the offensive line, we want to get as many guys in there so they can get the reps that they need, you know, because guys are going down throughout the season, as you guys have seen throughout the years here,” right guard Drake Metcalf said.
“I was asked earlier on a radio show like, what about the depth on the offensive line? We have such great talent across the entire board. We have three full offensive lines that can play. And I’m not talking just go in there and run plays. They can go in there and play and dominate as offensive line here at the University of Virginia. I’m just so proud to be a part of this group, and I’m so proud of our effort tonight on the football field,” Metcalf said.
Starter grades:
- C Brady Wilson: 56 snaps, 0 PR/30 pass snaps, 77.2 PFF grade
- RG Drake Metcalf: 63 snaps, 1 PR/32 pass snaps, 60.8 PFF grade
- LG Noah Josey: 49 snaps, 0 PR/26 pass snaps, 66.1 PFF grade
- LT McKale Boley: 49 snaps, 0 PR/26 pass snaps, 49.8 PFF grade
- RT Wallace Unamba: 20 snaps, 2 PR/8 pass snaps, 42.7 PFF grade
Key reserve grades:
- RT Jack Witmer: 40 snaps, 0 PR/22 pass snaps, 70.2 PFF grade
- RT Tyshawn Wyatt: 17 snaps, 0 PR/9 pass snaps, 60.4 PFF grade
- LT Ben York: 32 snaps, 1 PR/13 pass snaps, 65.7 PFF grade
- LG Kevin Wigenton: 24 snaps, 0 PR/11 pass snaps, 79.1 PFF grade
Wilson gets an A, Witmer an A-, Josey a B+, Metcalf a B.
I’m not going to give letter grades to the reserves, because that part of the game felt like a scrimmage.
Defense
Before D coordinator John Rudzinski started subbing liberally, with the game out of reach on the scoreboard, Coastal Carolina’s new Air Raid offense had just 86 yards of total offense.
Even with the threes and fours getting reps in the second half, the D ended up holding Coastal to 254 total yards, 98 sack-adjusted rushing yards, 3.8 yards per play, and 1-of-14 on third downs.
Solid showing for this group.
Front seven PFF grades
-
UVA Football linebacker Landon Danley. Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP LB Landon Danley: 56 snaps, seven tackles, one TFL, 70.8 PFF grade
- DE Cazeem Moore: 43 snaps, three tackles, one PBU, one PR, 66.8 PFF grade
- DE Fisher Camac: 42 snaps, five tackles, 0.5 sacks/2 PR, 78.6 PFF grade
- LB James Jackson: 39 snaps, three tackles, 65.6 PFF grade
- LB Mitchell Melton: 27 snaps, four tackles, 0.5 TFL, 69.5 PFF grade
- DE Daniel Rickert: 25 snaps, one tackle, one PR, 65.3 PFF grade
- LB Maddox Marcellus: 20 snaps, one tackle, 0.5 sacks/1 PR, 57.6 PFF grade
- DT Terrell Jones: 20 snaps, two tackles, 93.2 PFF grade
As for Jones and Camac; A-s for Danley, Melton, Moore and Rickert; Bs for Jackson and Marcellus.
Secondary
QB MJ Morris was 20-of-36 for 163 yards and an INT, and the bulk of the good part of that came after the INT that he threw on the first play of the third quarter, which was the demarcation line between Rudzinski using his starters and going more with the reserves – Morris was 15-of-19 for 114 yards after the INT.
PFF grades
- CB Donavon Platt: 54 snaps, two tackles, one PBU, 2-of-5/50.4 rating in coverage, 79.9 PFF grade
- CB Emmanuel Karnley: 45 snaps, two tackles, 1-of-3/63.2 rating in coverage, 65.9 PFF grade
- CB Ja’Son Prevard: 39 snaps, three tackles, 2-of-3/102.1 rating against in coverage, 55.4 PFF grade
- FS Christian Charles: 35 snaps, four tackles, one PBU, 0-of-1/39.6 rating in coverage, 75.0 PFF grade
- FS Devin Neal: 32 snaps, two tackles, 0-of-1/39.6 rating against in coverage, 60.8 PFF grade
- FS Da’Marcus Crosby: 27 snaps, three tackles, 1-of-1/100.0 rating in coverage, 64.1 PFF grade
- SS Ethan Minter: 24 snaps, four tackles, one TFL, one INT, 2-of-3/30.6 rating in coverage, 75.8 PFF grade
- CB Corey Costner: 20 snaps, three tackles, 1-of-1/104.2 rating in coverage, 62.9 PFF grade
- CB Jordan Robinson: 19 snaps, one tackle, 1-of-1/79.2 rating in coverage, 72.0 PFF grade
I’ll go with As for Platt, Minter, Charles and Robinson, Bs for Karnley, Crosby, Costner and Neal, and a B- for Prevard.
Special teams
Cam Ross returned a kickoff for a TD, Caleb Hardy blocked a punt, Daniel Sparks averaged 48.0 yards per punt and 72.4 yards per kickoff, with seven touchbacks on eight kickoffs.
Will Bettridge missed well short from 51 yards on his first field goal try, with makes from 32 and 41.
Sparks won the field-position battles on punts and kickoffs, and Virginia had the kick-return TD, and four punt returns for 31 yards.
Unit was a whole gets an A.
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Chris Graham
