Virginia Football Eyes the Future Amid Gator Bowl Prep, Transfer Portal Jockeying
As Virginia gears up for its TaxSlayer Gator Bowl matchup against Missouri, there’s more than just game prep happening in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers are coming off a 10-win season and an ACC Championship Game appearance-an impressive campaign that’s brought plenty of attention to the roster.
And with that attention comes decisions. Big ones.
For several of Virginia’s veteran leaders, the bowl game isn’t just the season finale-it’s a fork in the road. Some are weighing whether to return for another year in orange and blue or take the next step, whether that’s the NFL or the transfer portal.
“Everything’s still up in the air for me at the moment,” said left guard Noah Josey, a key piece of the Cavaliers’ offensive front. “So I really got to figure out what exactly I'm doing, but I'm focused on this week right now.”
Wide receiver Eli Wood echoed that sentiment: “No, I haven’t thought much about it. I’m focused on this game and finishing out the season with this team.”
That kind of laser focus is what helped propel Virginia to one of its best seasons in recent memory. But the reality of college football in 2025 is that roster building doesn’t stop when the regular season ends-it accelerates.
Retention Is the New Recruiting
In today’s college football landscape, keeping your roster intact is every bit as important as adding new talent. Tyler Jones, Virginia’s General Manager for Football, put it plainly: “It is hand-to-hand combat-retaining your players and acquiring players. It’s the new era of college athletics, certainly around football.”
The Cavaliers have plenty of players who’ve drawn outside interest, and that’s no surprise. When you win 10 games and compete for a conference title, other programs take notice. But Virginia is leaning hard into its culture-the one head coach Tony Elliott has been building brick by brick.
“Several of our players that have decided to stay for several seasons likely took a pay cut-to be candid,” Jones said. “They probably could have gone somewhere else to earn more, and they decided to stay because of the culture and the way that we treat our student-athletes here.”
That’s a powerful statement in an age where NIL dollars can shift the balance of power overnight. But at Virginia, the pitch isn’t just about money-it’s about development, education, and a program identity that players want to be part of.
Assistant GM and Chief of Staff Justin Speros added, “What Coach Elliott constantly preaches about-building the model program-not only attracts great talent, players and staff who want to be a part of this, but also makes them want to stay.”
Portal Strategy: Inside-Out
Yes, Virginia will be active in the transfer portal this offseason. But the staff’s top priority right now?
Retention. That’s been the focus since the final whistle of the ACC title game.
“Transfers want to know who they're playing with,” Jones explained. “So understanding the current roster and its needs helps us identify what type of players we want out of the portal.”
There’s only one transfer window, and the last thing the staff wants is to be scrambling to both retain and recruit at the same time. That’s why the conversations with current players have already begun-quietly, strategically, and with transparency.
“We’ve started that process,” Speros said. “Both sides have sought each other out-making some good solid progress with many of the guys that we anticipate returning next year.”
Those discussions will continue through the bowl game and into the new year, with the staff looking to lock in returners before the portal opens on January 2.
Navigating the NIL Landscape
One of the trickiest parts of roster management in 2025 is gauging a player’s value on the open market. That’s not something Virginia’s front office is trying to predict.
“For us, the retention piece is critical,” said Jones. “There’s value in culture and continuity that may not be an element you consider when acquiring a student-athlete.”
Every program’s NIL pool looks different. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to what a player might be worth elsewhere. That’s why Virginia has built its own internal framework for how it values positions and players-and sticks to it.
“Team to team, conference to conference-just pools of funds look different,” Speros added. “So things aren’t going to be consistent. Having our own internal framework is critical.”
Contingency Planning: A-Z and Beyond
While the Cavaliers await decisions on player waivers-like quarterback Chandler Morris’ petition for another year-the staff is already gaming out every possible outcome.
“You have to go down that path if that player is able to return: what does that mean for that particular position room? What does it mean for that side of the ball?”
Jones said. “So we’re gaming out several different scenarios.”
Speros added, “You kind of become conditioned to operate like that at every position. Because waiver or not, whether a kid has eligibility remaining or doesn’t, everybody is essentially on a one-year deal.”
That mindset has become the norm across college football. Every offseason is a reset, and every position group is a puzzle to be reassembled.
Ready for the Portal
Virginia’s personnel department isn’t just waiting for the portal to open-they’ve been preparing for months. With seven full-time staffers, several part-timers, and more than 15 student assistants, the Cavaliers have built the infrastructure to stay ahead.
“In 2025, your personnel departments need to have the right infrastructure-from a high school scouting standpoint and from a college scouting standpoint,” Speros said. “That process didn’t start for us when we saw the first Twitter notification that somebody was announcing their intent-that started for us in the summertime.”
They’ve been evaluating opponents, tracking potential fits, and building a database that allows them to move quickly once the window opens.
“You’re not doing anything that’s out of bounds,” Speros added. “You’re just evaluating rosters. That’s what teams do in the pros.”
And come January 2, Virginia will be ready to move-strategically, efficiently, and with a clear sense of who they are and what they need.
The Gator Bowl may be the final game of the season, but for Virginia football, the real work is just beginning. Between player decisions, transfer portal moves, and NIL dynamics, the next few weeks will shape the future of the program. And if the Cavaliers’ front office has anything to say about it, that future is looking bright.