Cavaliers Add First Pieces to 2026 Roster

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — For the University of Virginia football program, on-field success and staff stability are opening recruiting doors that have been closed, especially in this state.

Of the 14 high school seniors who signed with the Cavaliers on Wednesday, seven are Virginians: wide receiver Damari Carter (Richmond), defensive tackle JaySean Richardson (Richmond), defensive backs Alex Dunn (Roanoke) and Isaiah Harris (Charlottesville), offensive lineman Luke Hatfield (Haymarket) and athlete Jae’Oyn Williams (Woodbridge).

“The reception is a lot different than maybe day one for the staff back when we took over,” said Tony Ellliott, who’s in his fourth season as UVA’s head coach, “and each year we’ve just made progress with building those relationships and then also showing the end product.

“I think that’s the biggest thing. You can work as hard as you want building those relationships with the folks at the school, but until you can put the product on the field so that the young men, when they come, they can see it, they can touch it, they can feel it, [it’s challenging],” Elliott said Wednesday at the Hardie Center. “I think you’re seeing now we’ve got a little bit more to sell than just a vision. It’s really coming to life.”

The Wahoos, who won three games in each of their first two seasons under Elliott, improved to 5-7 in 2024. They’re 10-2 this season and, with a win Saturday night over Duke (7-5) in the ACC championship game, almost certainly would advance to the College Football Playoff.

UVA closed the regular season with a 27-7 rout of Virginia Tech: the Hoos’ first win over the Hokies since 2019. This breakthrough season figures to pay bigger dividends for Virginia in the next recruiting cycle.

“I’m very hopeful and optimistic that we’ll be able to get in a conversation with some guys that maybe in the past when you said Virginia, it’s like, ‘OK, good academic school, but I’m focusing on bigger football,’ ” Elliott said.

“I think now with what we’ve experienced this season in Scott Stadium—with the fans filling up the seats and creating an unbelievable environment to play in, the success on the field, you’re in conversation for the postseason—I think it’s going to get us to the table. And we started to see that before. You look at some of the top players in the state that are leaving the state, it wasn’t that we weren’t in the conversation; it just wasn’t the right fit for them at the right time.”

Of the 14 players who signed Wednesday, Elliott said, seven will enroll at UVA next month: Williams, quarterback Ely Hamrick, wideout Dylan Cope, offensive linemen Dylan Biehl and Mikey Gildea, linebacker Dallas Brannon and defensive back Jayden Covil.

“I think that’s the largest number [of midyear freshman enrollees] we’ve had as a staff,” Elliott said.

The late signing period opens in February, and the Cavaliers might opt to sign more high school seniors then.

“To be determined,” Elliott said. “Once we get through the season and evaluate the retention on the roster, we’ll see what the numbers look like … I imagine with all the coaching changes [around the country], there’ll be a bunch of guys that don’t sign early. So we’ll see what’s available and see if there’s a need, a fit. So I don’t know exactly. So it’s not ruled out, but I won’t know until we do the evaluation of our roster.”

From the end of the 2024 season to the start of training camp this summer, the Hoos added 32 transfers, many of whom have played prominent roles fall. The transfer portal for 2026 opens next month, and Virginia is likely to add another sizable class of players with college experience.

“We want to continue to identify high school guys and have them developing,” Elliott said, “but also we’re going to have to supplement them with the portal.”

Among the transfers who joined the program last January was quarterback Chandler Morris, who’s been instrumental in the Cavaliers’ success this season. Elliott confirmed Wednesday that Morris might be granted another year of eligibility but added that that’s “still to be determined, so I’m not going to say if that’s gonna happen or not. We’re planning as if it’s not, so we want to continue to bring in guys, and I think the quarterback position, you’re gonna have to recruit that position every single year.”

Hamrick, who’s listed at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, is from Shelby, N.C. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Williams also will begin his career at quarterback, Elliott said, but might end up at tailback.

Virginia’s coaches planned to take a running back in this class, Elliott said. But Williams worked out at both positions at a camp at UVA and “showed enough [for the staff] to say, ‘Hey, you can compete at quarterback,’ ” Elliott said.

If that doesn’t work out, Williams “can transition to running back,” Elliott said. “But it’s really going to be up to him. And so that’s why it’s important he gets here in January, so he can get a good start in that room. If he’s the guy [at quarterback] then we’ll figure it out. We’ll go find us another person at running back. And if not, we’ll transition him there and kind of see how he develops at that position. But he’s such a dynamic athlete that you know that he’ll be able to play somewhere.”

Other intriguing prospects among the 2026 signees include Uran, who’s from Elder High School in Cincinnati.

“He’s fast, violent and plays everywhere,” Elliott said, “and he’s a football player like he’s a heat-seeking missile. And he’s got a skill set where he can play your field safety, but he’s also got the toughness and the pedigree to play in the box if you need him to.”

Richardson and Carter are teammates at Varina, a perennial power in the Virginia High School League.

Carter “is a guy that I had my eye on for a long time,” Elliott said. “I started out watching him play basketball and saw just the leaping ability, the above-the-rim type of skills, and now you’re starting to see that [in football]. And he’s still playing, his team’s still playing, competing for a state championship.”

The 6-foot-1, 300-pound Richardson lives up to his nickname of “Bull,” Elliott said. “I got a chance to go to one [Varina] game this this year, and it was to watch him play and Damari, and he was in the backfield all all night. But what stood out is he’s a no-nonsense kind of guy. He’s a team guy. He’s all about the team. He’s a loyal guy, been committed for a long time, didn’t waver at all.

“You go watch him play, he’s strong. But he’s got good lateral quickness. He can get off of blocks and make plays. So I’m excited to see when he gets here, because I think he’ll have enough of the development, strength-wise, to be able to go in there and mix it up early on.”

A year ago, 19 high school seniors signed with UVA. Several members of that class have carved out roles this season, most notably defensive back Corey Costner, and Elliott is high on many of the team’s other true freshmen, including wideouts Dillon Newton-Short, Josiah Abdullah and Isaiah Robinson, tailback Xay Davis, quarterbacks Cole Geer and Bjorn Jurgensen, offensive linemen Jon Adair and Grayson Reid, defensive tackle Sichan John, and defensive backs Josiah Persinger, Lukas Sanker and Montino Williams.

The coaching staff chose to retain the season of eligibility of some of those players, Elliott said, “because the situation allowed where we didn’t have to burn their redshirt year. But I’m excited about those guys and the future. And then you add these 14 … so I’m excited about both of these last two classes.”

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