UVA Football coach Tony Elliott was among the Power 4 programs to offer quarterback Danny Kaelin out of high school in 2024, but Virginia was behind a long list of suitors –Colorado, Florida State, Michigan State and Missouri among them – for Kaelin’s services.
The Nebraska born-and-bred Kaelin eventually committed to his home-state program, and his star power helped head coach Matt Rhule a Top 20 recruiting class, with Kaelin pitching in to help the coaching staff lure top guys to Lincoln.
Then, at almost literally the last minute, Rhule landed five-star QB Dylan Raiola for his 2024 class.
Kaelin stuck with his commitment, but with Raiola, whose father, Dominic, was a Rimington Trophy winner at Nebraska in 2000, and whose uncle, Donovan, is the O line coach at the school, winning the QB1 job in the spring, Kaelin, himself a former top Elite 11 prep prospect, saw the writing on the wall.
The 6’3” pocket passer hit the transfer portal on Dec. 3.
Virginia was one of the first schools to contact him upon his entry into the portal, he told 247Sports on Sunday, after he’d announced his commitment to the UVA Football program.
“Coach Elliott obviously has a lot of pedigree being on some elite teams in college football, and I think I personally have a lot of confidence that he definitely has as a great blueprint to do that again at UVA, and I think everyone else on the coaching staff is aligned with him,” Kaelin said.
“I think they have a lot of momentum going into this offseason to continue to build on what they’ve done so far, and I’m excited to be a part of it,” Kaelin said.
A big get for Elliott, UVA Football
Danny Kaelin is a big get for Elliott, who is losing two-year starter Anthony Colandrea, a sophomore who declared his portal intentions on Dec. 1.
The QB room at UVA has New Mexico State transfer Gavin Frakes, who started five games as a true freshman in 2022 before redshirting in the 2023 season, then transferring to Virginia earlier this year; redshirt sophomore Grady Brosterhous, a former walk-on who is used primarily in wildcat and tush-push situations; and a pair of incoming freshmen – three-star Class of 2025 recruits Cole Geer and Bjorn Jurgensen.
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Kaelin was also a three-star recruit, but the folks out in Nebraska note that, for what it’s worth, he was a four-star going into his senior high school season, after completing 64 percent of his passes for 3,186 yards and 36 touchdowns as a junior.
His numbers took a hit in 2023 – Kaelin had a 59 percent completion rate, 2,225 yards and 17 touchdowns as a senior – but the local folks in Nebraska attributed the decline to a rash of injuries on his high school team, Bellevue West, a traditional power out there.
Kaelin’s talent was obvious early on: he was already getting offers as a freshman on the JV team based on his performances in QB camps, with his first offer that year coming from FSU, before Nebraska jumped in with its first offer, from then-head coach Scott Frost, now back at Central Florida.
Kaelin was one of 20 QBs from among more than 500 who attended Elite 11 regional tryouts selected to compete in the Elite 11 Finals in 2023 – for reference on what that means, alumni from the Elite 11 Finals include 27 of the 32 current NFL starting quarterbacks.
At the Finals, Kaelin won the Accuracy Challenge, in which QBs are given a variety of throws – curls, comebacks, deep posts – and a target to hit. He scored 56 points, one of only three campers to score over 50.
He also finished tied for fifth during the Pro Day competition, where each quarterback conducts 20 scripted throws from different stations and are scored based on accuracy and whether the ball is completed.
Kaelin went 15-for-20 in his session and scored 43 out of a possible 50 points.
At the Elite 11 camp, quarterbacks are required to take the S2 cognitive test, which replaced the Wonderlic Test during the NFL Draft process, and is used as an evaluation tool for how athletes can process split-second information and their decision-making ability.
Kaelin scored 94 out of 99 on the test.
Not bad.
So, smart kid, big (at 6’3”), can make all the throws.
The only thing we don’t have with Danny Kaelin is any sense of how he will take to playing at the college level, because he didn’t get on the field as a freshman at Nebraska.
I’m still rating this a big get for Elliott, who, with Frakes, Brosterhous and the two incoming freshmen, may have his QB room for 2025 set with this pickup.
Video: UVA Football playing big boy football
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Chris Graham
