⚡️ A SCHOOL RECORD 100-YARD RETURN FOR CAM ROSS ⚡️
He's got 224 all-purpose yards and two total TDs 💯
📺 ACC Network pic.twitter.com/2QeqMJuyEm
— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 31, 2025
Hoos Keep Blowout Win in Perspective
By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In the home locker room at Scott Stadium, Tony Elliott celebrated with his football team after the most one-sided victory of his tenure, beaming like a proud father. Before his players dispersed, however, the University of Virginia’s fourth-year coach reminded them that one win, no matter how impressive, does not a successful season make.
“All we did was go 1-0,” Elliott told his team Saturday night. “The objective every week is to go 1-0. But now you know what you’re capable of.”
Since the end of last season, when they finished 5-7, the Wahoos have revamped their roster, adding 54 players, including 32 transfers. Elliott believes his team could have a special season, and the Hoos started on an impressive note, crushing Coastal Carolina 48-7 on a picturesque late-summer evening.
“We showed up and did our job,” said Cam Ross, a graduate transfer from JMU who finished with 224 all-purpose yards. “We did what we expected of ourselves.”
The 48 points are the most the Wahoos have scored under Elliott, surpassing the 43 they rang up in a win over Coastal in Conway, S.C., last year, and they produced a staggering array of highlights Saturday.
Chandler Morris passed for two touchdowns, James Jackson and Kevon Gray each recovered a fumble, Caleb Hardy blocked a punt, Ethan Minter intercepted a pass, Ross returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD, Trell Harris had a spectacular one-handed reception for a 48-yard gain, Will Bettridge kicked two field goals, and Daniel Sparks averaged 64.7 yards on his eight punts.
Virginia, which didn’t turn the ball over, totaled 454 yards on offense and held Coastal to 254 yards. The Chanticleers (0-1) rushed for only 91 yards and were 1 for 13 in third-down situations.
“I thought we played complementary football,” Elliott said.
The first of Virginia’s seven home games this season drew an announced crowd of 46,143, and students, most clad in orange, turned out en masse. At a pep rally at Scott Stadium on Aug. 22, Elliott said Saturday night, he had challenged students “to show up early, to be loud, and I thought they did a really, really good job. I thought we had a good atmosphere to start.
“There’s nothing like playing in front of a good crowd with a good atmosphere, and hopefully the guys showed enough that will encourage more folks to come and fill out Scott Stadium. Hopefully this will be the start of kind of a new thing for us in terms of defending Scott Stadium the right way.”
Virginia’s defense dominated for most of the game, but its offense sputtered for much of the first quarter. Once the Cavaliers settled into a rhythm, however, they moved the ball almost at will. They led 28-0 after a first half in which Morris passed for 239 yards, and they pushed their lead to 35 points before the Chanticleers finally scored later in the third quarter.
Not since 2021 had UVA held an opponent scoreless in the first half.
Moments after Coastal’s only touchdown, Ross became the first Cavalier since Joe Reed in 2019 to return a kickoff for a touchdown. No. 6 also impressed as a wide receiver, catching seven passes for 124 yards and one TD.
Ross arrived on Grounds in January and went through spring practice with the Hoos. From the start, Ross said, he focused on “just earning the trust of my teammates and my coaches and just trying to find a role in this team, and I think from January to now I’ve just been continuing to try to do that.”
Elliott said Ross, who’s from Newark, Del, has “really, really good football instincts. He’s got a great skill set as a receiver and you felt like, based off of what you saw on the film from JMU last year and then the validation of the short-area quickness, that he would be able to make some plays for you, so I’m just super excited for him.”
Ross reminds Elliott in many ways of former UVA standout Malik Washington, who’s now with the NFL’s Dolphins. “They’re different,” Elliott said, “and he’s got a long way to go, obviously, because Malik did some exceptional things here, but he’s kind of cut from the sand cloth, just his ability as a football player and also as a return guy. He doesn’t say much, very quiet. He just shows up every single day and goes to work.”
Game Highlights
An injury to Morris early in the third quarter marred the Cavaliers’ win. He took a hit to his non-throwing shoulder at the end of a 28-yard run to the Coastal 2 and had to leave the game. A graduate transfer from North Texas, Morris didn’t return, and redshirt freshman Daniel Kaelin took over at quarterback.
Morris, who appeared to have hurt his AC joint, will be re-evaluated Sunday morning, Elliott said. Morris finished 19-for-27 passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed for a team-high 50 yards.
While he was lying on the ground, Morris acknowledged that he should have slid to avoid getting hit, Elliott said, “but that’s the competitor that he is. He also said, ‘Coach, I saw the end zone. I wanted to score.’ So that’s the kind of player that he is, but we’re encouraged and very hopeful for next week.”
Landon Danley, starting at linebacker in place of the injured Kam Robinson, led Virginia with seven tackles, and end Fisher Camac, a transfer from UNLV, had five stops. The Cavaliers recorded only sack but pressured quarterback MJ Morris throughout. Morris completed only 20 of 36 passes.
Four tailbacks had at least seven carries apiece for Virginia, and they combined for 123 yards rushing. J’Mari Taylor, a transfer from North Carolina Central, rushed for two touchdowns, and Harrison Waylee, a transfer from Wyoming, ran for one score.
“We’ve got a very high expectation for ourselves,” Taylor said, “and we’ve got to continue to do that from week one all the way to week 12.”
Elliott had a similar message in the locker room. “This is just the floor,” he told his team. “That’s not our ceiling.”
UP NEXT: The Cavaliers (1-0) head to Raleigh, N.C., where they’ll meet NC State (1-0) at noon Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium. The game, which won’t count in the ACC standings, will air on ESPN2.
The Wolfpack opened the season Thursday night with a 24-17 win over East Carolina in Raleigh.
UVA has dropped three in a row to NC State, which leads the series 37-22-1. In the most recent meeting between these teams, the Wolfpack won 24-21 at Scott Stadium in 2023.

Cam Ross returns kickoff 100 yards for a TD
SOUND BITES: With the win, Virginia improved to 3-1 in season openers under Elliott. Among the postgame comments:
* Hardy, the first Cavalier since Noah Taylor in 2019 to block a punt, on carving out a role for himself: “It’s a lot of competitive depth everywhere on the field, so you just gotta find your way on the field, and special teams is where I think I can get on the field.”
* Minter, a standout quarterback at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, on his long interception return, which was negated by a penalty: “I was tired after running all that way.”
* Minter, who impressed as a UVA true freshman in 2024, on the performance of a secondary that added multiple transfers in the offseason: *We honestly didn’t really have any questions about all the new faces. We gelled together so well this offseason … So we really feel like this is what we were supposed to do, but we’re also really happy with the way we played.”
* Danley, a junior, on his first college start: “With the older guys we got in the linebacker group, they’re able to bring me along and keep me in touch with everything going on. So I think I’ve got a lot of confidence.”
* Offensive guard Drake Metcalf on the significance of the victory: “It’s not necessarily just about having that W in your column. It’s about being in that locker room after the game, being surrounded by all of my teammates and … just celebrating as one unit through all the trials, the tribulations, the hardships, the blood, the sweat, the tears that we’ve had throughout training camp, last season, spring ball, all of it. It is so worth it to be able to have that feeling, and there’s no other way you can get that feeling like that in life than being a part of a football team that wins games like this.”
* Metcalf on Ross’ playmaking ability: “Being able to see Cam out there make those plays, it’s an intense feeling that you get when you’re out there. As soon as you hear the crowd go nuts and erupt when he catches the football downtown or takes it back to the house on a kickoff return, it’s such a great feeling. And it’s special for the offensive line, because we’re the unsung heroes. We’re up there blocking our tails off to be able to help those guys make those catches. So it’s a great feeling to know we helped with that. We helped get that done.”
* Ross on his transition to UVA: “It’s easy when you have great people like this. It’s the people that make it, and since the second I stepped foot in the building, it was just nothing but open arms and welcoming demeanor. Everybody’s great, from the top down. I can’t even express it enough, honestly. I feel like goes into your performance. They make you feel good about yourself. They make you want to go out there and fight for them, fight for this program, fight for this university. I can’t say enough about the people here.”
To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.

Chandler Morris (4)