The transfer portal formally opens on Friday. Two days out, we’re getting a clearer picture of the retention effort facing the UVA Football front office.
The biggest name in the portal at this point is Ja’Son Prevard, who logged 585 snaps at cornerback for the Virginia defense this season.
Prevard indicated that he planned to enter the portal back on Dec. 9, and didn’t participate in the practices leading to the Gator Bowl.
I still haven’t heard what the exact issue was, but Prevard was benched for the first half of the Nov. 29 season finale with Virginia Tech for an unspecified violation of team rules, then only got in for nine snaps in the second half of that game.
Prevard did play in the ACC Championship Game, but only 33 snaps, down sharply from his usage earlier in the season.
Something seems to have happened behind the scenes there.
The other contributor who will formally enter the portal on Friday is wideout Suderian Harrison, who has 23 catches in three seasons at Virginia, though only two catches on two targets in 2025 – both coming in the Week 3 win over William & Mary.
Harrison just got lost in the shuffle in the wideout group, and figured to be the #2 in the slot going into 2026, with the emergence of Kam Courtney (25 catches/37 targets, 234 yards, 9.4 yards per catch in 2025).
Other names headed toward the portal at this writing:
- RG/RT Tyshawn Wyatt: 28 snaps in 2025.
- CB Dre Walker: missed 2025 due to injury; 334 defensive snaps in his first two seasons (2023, 2024).
- DE Mekhi Buchanan: five snaps on defense, 29 snaps on special teams in 2025.
- LB Trey McDonald: 14 snaps on defense, 159 snaps on special teams in 2025; 490 defensive snaps in 2024.
- DT Terrell Jones: 47 defensive snaps in 2025; 282 defensive snaps in 2024.
- WR Andre Greene Jr.: 1 catch/1 target in 2025; 9 catches/19 targets in 2024.
Needs
Depth at QB
This is where we need clarity, ASAP, from the NCAA on Chandler Morris, who is petitioning for a seventh year.
Redshirt freshman Daniel Kaelin was a big-time prep recruit for Nebraska, and was reportedly a big-dollar transfer-portal guy when Virginia nabbed him in the offseason.
The QB room, after Kaelin, has Cole Geer, a freshman, who warmed up on the sidelines when Kaelin tweaked his knee in the second quarter of the loss to Wake Forest a couple of weeks back, suggesting he’s the third-stringer; then it goes to another freshman, Bjorn Jurgensen, and a sophomore, Boone Lourd.
Geer and Jurgensen were both three-star recruits in the Class of 2025; Lourd was a walk-on in 2024.
O-line: up in the air
We know that center Brady Wilson (759 snaps, 72.0 PFF grade) is done: he played four full college seasons, including his lone season, 2025, at Virginia.
Those who can return include left tackle McKale Boley (856 snaps, 71.7 PFF grade), left guard Noah Josey (983 snaps, 65.2 PFF grade), and right tackle Jack Witmer (906 snaps, 50.1 PFF grade).
The 2022 redshirt would seem to be the factor there.
Right guard Drake Metcalf (911 snaps, 64.1 PFF grade) has already announced that he will be back for a seventh year in college.
His career started at Stanford way back in 2020.
The big offseason transfer-portal pickup, left tackle Monroe Mills, who went down in the spring with a torn ACL, could – emphasis on could – come back.
Young guys who have been getting reps this season that can factor in include sophomore tackle Ben York (261 snaps, 63.2 PFF grade), freshman left tackle Jon Adair (51 snaps, 70.9 PFF grade), and sophomore guard/center Grant Ellinger (45 snaps, 66.9 PFF grade).
Millions will be spent from the NIL/House settlement budget here, clearly.
Wideouts/tight ends
The wide-receiver room could lose the top three guys from this season.
We know that Cam Ross (53 catches/79 targets, 543 yards, 10.2 yards/catch in 2025) is done; 2025 was his seventh year in college.
Trell Harris (59 catches/83 targets, 847 yards, 14.4 yards/catch in 2025) and Jahmal Edrine (46 catches/71 targets, 564 yards, 12.3 yards/catch in 2025) can return.
Eli Wood (16 catches/25 targets, 205 yards, 12.8 yards/catch in 2025) really emerged down the stretch as a guy who can play either at wideout or in the slot.
The tight-end group can bring back redshirt junior Dakota Twitty (22 catches/34 targets, 214 yards, 9.7 yards/catch over three seasons) and sophomore John Rogers (9 catches/12 targets, 101 yards, 11.2 yards/catch this season).
The tailback room can bring back redshirt junior Xavier Brown (948 yards, 5.1 yards/attempt, three TDs in three seasons) and junior Noah Vaughn (294 yards, 5.0 yards/attempt in two seasons).
Defense
A lot comes back, starting with junior linebacker Kam Robinson (416 snaps, 71.6 PFF grade), the linebacker room can build around juniors Maddox Marcellus (334 snaps, 76.0 PFF grade), Landon Danley (299 snaps, 62.9 PFF grade) and Caleb Hardy (157 snaps, 66.8 PFF grade).
The D line can build around redshirt junior edge rusher Fisher Camac (428 snaps, 81.4 PFF grade), and three interior guys, all juniors – Anthony Britton (227 snaps, 67.3 PFF grade), Jason Hammond (360 snaps, 65.0 PFF grade) and Hunter Osborne (271 snaps, 65.4 PFF grade).
The secondary can bring a few key guys back – with junior Emmanuel Karnley (657 snaps, 69.3 PFF grade) and true freshmen Corey Costner (260 snaps, 70.4 PFF grade) and Josiah Persinger (53 snaps, 66.0 PFF grade) at corner, plus corner Jam Jackson (329 snaps, 54.0 PFF grade in 2024), who missed the 2025 season with an injury, and sophomore safety Ethan Minter (523 snaps, 73.0 PFF grade) at safety.
Special teams
We’ll need to hit the wire for a new placekicker, with four-year guy Will Bettridge moving on after the season.
The punter/kickoff specialist situation looks good, with junior Elijah Slibeck (42.3 yards/punt, 42 touchbacks on 70 kickoffs) returning.
Depth wouldn’t hurt in any of those three positions.
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Chris Graham
