Virginia’s offense has a clear strength entering the season, but the piece still missing is the one Tony Elliott keeps circling back to: wide receiver.
Ten days before the Cavaliers open against N.C. State, Elliott is still trying to smooth out a room that looks almost nothing like the one Chandler Morris leaned on a year ago.
That’s been obvious from the start of camp. On the first day, Elliott was already reprimanding Da'Shawn Martin for a lack of effort on one pattern.
By Monday, he was on the practice field personally working with the receivers, tightening up small details in how they were getting through their routes.
“I think that was a group that probably had the biggest questions just because you lost a ton of production at that position and a lot of new guys trying to learn the system,” Elliott told reporters after practice Monday. “It's been challenging at times, just with whatever wideouts and during fall camp, there's always a hamstring, a quad, or something that keeps guys out. But overall, I think understanding of the system, we've made improvements.”
That turnover is real. Last season, Morris had a loaded target tree: Trell Harris caught 59 passes for 847 yards, Cam Ross had 53 for 543, Jahmal Edrine finished with 46 for 564, and running back J'Mari Taylor added 43 catches for 253 yards.
Sage Ennis also gave Virginia a dependable option, matching Harris with five touchdown receptions on only 13 catches. Together, they helped power an offense that averaged 239 passing yards and 178 rushing yards per game on the way to an 11-3 season.
Now all of them are gone. Harris transferred to Oklahoma.
Ross, who is in Denver, and Taylor, now with Jacksonville, are in NFL training camps. Edrine was dismissed from the team.
Ennis graduated.
To rebuild that group, Elliott’s staff went into the transfer market and added Rico Flores Jr. from UCLA, Martin from Kent State, Jacquon Gibson from UMass, and Tyson Davis from Central Michigan. They’re joined by holdover Kam Courtney, and there’s also a pair of freshmen in Dylan Cope and DaMari Carter.
The talent is there, but the experience is thin. Among the players competing for starting jobs, Gibson is the only one who has ever been the clear No. 1 receiver on a college team, and that came at a UMass program that went winless and was widely viewed as the worst FBS team in 2025.
Virginia’s camp has also been slowed by injuries. Flores, who appears to be the leading candidate to emerge as the top receiver, missed time with a sore hamstring.
Elliott said Martin and Cope were also dealing with minor injuries that limited what they could do. That meant fewer reps to build timing with Beau Pribula, who is stepping in as the new starting quarterback.
That lack of availability is part of why Elliott has been so insistent on precision when the receivers are actually on the field. He said the staff spent a lot of time drilling technique, and he wanted to see cleaner work from a group still learning how to function together.
“You saw we were really, really focusing hard on the technique, technique work, and really getting the guys to hone in there,” Elliott said.
One player who has taken advantage of the opportunities is Tyliric Coleman, a senior who had only six career receptions over his first three seasons at Virginia. Elliott pointed to him as someone who made the most of the reps while more recognizable names were out.
That kind of development matters because Virginia still wants to play the way Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings prefer: run the ball, stay balanced, and make defenses deal with both sides of the offense. The Cavaliers have the ingredients for that on the ground, with a veteran offensive line and a deep backfield.
But the passing game still has to catch up. With the opener closing in, that remains the most glaring issue on a team that otherwise expects plenty this fall.
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Tony Elliotts Virginia Plan Puts Pressure On The NIL Arms Race
NIL has changed the economics of college football, and Virginia is trying to navigate that reality without losing sight of what Tony Elliott wants the program to be. The Cavaliers rank 60th nationally in athlete payments, with $13.5 million allocated to football, a spending level that puts them in the middle of the national race rather than at the front of it. For Elliott, the answer is not simply to chase the biggest price tags, but to keep building a roster he believes can actually function together.
That approach adds another layer of pressure in a market where money so often sets the tone, especially when Virginias top-paid player is quarterback Beau Pribula at $1.5 million. Elliott has been clear that fit matters as much as talent, and the challenge now is whether that philosophy can hold up when richer programs come calling with bigger checks. For Virginia, the question is less about whether it can spend and more about whether it can keep competing while staying true to the standard Elliott wants. [Read more 🡒]
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The portal decision adds a fresh layer of uncertainty to a roster that is largely set for next season, which makes a return to Charlottesville feel far from simple even with the eligibility issue resolved. Virginia would likely have to make room if Hall were to come back, but for now the picture around its lead guard spot is more complicated than it was just a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]