UVA Football Set to Host North Texas Transfer QB Chandler Morris

A true product of the transfer portal, Chandler Morris started his career at Oklahoma, then transferred to TCU for three years, then played this past season at North Texas, where he threw for 3,774 passing yards and 31 touchdowns to 12 interceptions and also rushed for 242 yards and four rushing touchdowns. Morris ranked fifth in the country in passing yards, third in completions, and fourth in passing touchdowns in the 2024 college football regular season.

In the 2023 season at TCU, Morris started six games and completed 65.5% of his passes for 1,532 yards and 12 touchdowns, For his career, Morris has thrown for 6,207 yards and 31 touchdowns and rushed for 642 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Originally from Highland Park, Texas, Morris has played his entire football career in Texas or Oklahoma, so it may be difficult to lure him away from that region. The Cavaliers do have a connection to Morris, though, as his father is Chad Morris, who was previously the head coach at SMU and Arkansas and who coached with Tony Elliott at Clemson from 2011-2014. Elliott ended up replacing Morris as Clemson's offensive coordinator when Morris left to take over as head coach at SMU. That connection has no doubt played a role in Chandler Morris taking a visit to Elliott and the Cavaliers this week to see if he could be UVA's next quarterback.

Virginia went into the 2024 season with two quarterbacks who had each started six games in the previous season. Anthony Colandrea won the starting job over Tony Muskett and started the first 11 games of the season before getting benched in favor of Muskett for the season finale at Virginia Tech. Colandrea announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal with two years of eligibility the day after the season ended and Muskett concluded his career as he has exhausted his collegiate eligibility.

It's likely that the Cavaliers would have pursued a quarterback in the transfer portal this offseason anyway, but the surprising departure of Colandrea means acquiring an experienced quarterback from the portal is the top priority for Tony Elliott and his coaching staff, who may even consider pursuing two quarterback transfers to add to their 2025 roster this offseason.

We wrote previously about 10 potential quarterbacks Virginia could pursue in the transfer portal, a list that included Chandler Morris. Read that story here: 10 Potential Quarterback Targets for UVA Football in Transfer Portal

Keep track of all of UVA's transfer portal activity, including outgoing and incoming transfers here: Virginia Football Transfer Portal Tracker