CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – While North Texas transfer quarterback Chandler Morris has been the team’s clear No. 1 so far through fall camp, sophomore Daniel Kaelin could also be in line for playing time this season, UVA coach Tony Elliott said Thursday.
“I think there is a skillset where you can use them both,” Elliott told Cville Right Now. “He continues to make plays and the competition has been really close.”
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Kaelin spent his freshman year at Nebraska, his home-state school. He did not see any game action.
Morris, a grad transfer who started his career at Oklahoma in 2020 before spending three years at TCU, is the son of former Arkansas and SMU coach Chad Morris, and has logged 28 college games in his career.
Last season, Morris started all 13 games for North Texas, ranking fourth in the nation with 31 touchdown passes.
But Morris did deal with a shoulder injury last year and missed the second half of TCU’s 2023 campaign with a left knee injury.
So having a viable backup is, understandably, something UVA wants to establish this preseason. The Cavaliers have six quarterbacks on the roster this fall, including short-yardage specialist Grady Brosterhous.
Brosterhous has thrown one career pass in 13 games, being used mostly to run the ball in short-yardage situations.
No other QB on the roster, other than Morris, has thrown a pass in a college game.
That’s another part of the reason Elliott wants Kaelin, who represents UVA on the ACC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, to be prepared and to get some game snaps early in the season.
“He’s a guy that we need to find a way to make sure he gets experience as we’re progressing through the season,” Elliott said. “He’s earned that, too, with the way he’s come in and competed and led and produced.”
The Cavaliers have a favorable early schedule, with four of the first five games coming at home, including match-ups with Group of Five foe Coastal Carolina and FCS opponent William & Mary.
Elliott said getting off to a fast start will be a key for the team, and said fan turnout at Scott Stadium could play a role in early success.
“It’s important that we get off to a fast start,” Elliott said. “And we need a full stadium. We need that energy. We need that electricity. Because football is hard. And there’s so many opportunities for momentum change in the game and the environment in the stadium can help us capture those moments. That’s where the fanbase and the electricity and excitement in the stadium can help in those moments. That’s when we need everybody.”
Virginia averaged just 38,999 fans per game at 61,500-seat Scott Stadium, ranking it 12th in the 17-team ACC. The Cavaliers opened the season 4-1, then won just one more game the rest of the way. Elliott said he believes this year’s squad, one he’s called the deepest and most talented in his four seasons in Charlottesville.
“We have a great opportunity to get off to a fast start,” Elliott said. “And I think we have a little bit more depth to be able to finish better than we did in the past.”
