CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLERIGHTNOW) – There’s reason to be excited about Virginia transfer offensive weapons Cam Ross and J’Mari Taylor – and reason to be concerned about new quarterback Chandler Morris.

Ross, a transfer wide receiver from James Madison, caught 7 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown and ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a score as UVA opened its season with a lopsided drilling of Coastal Carolina, 48-7. 

J’Mari Taylor, a transfer running back from North Carolina Central scored twice and Virginia’s defense held the Chanticleers to just 254 total yards.

“With all the new pieces, we expected exactly what happened,” Taylor said. “All the guys who transferred in, we all bought into the program. That’s really what we all expected.”

All six of Virginia’s touchdowns came from transfers, who made a strong first impression on the announced crowd of 46,143.

But Morris, the transfer from North Texas and the only experienced quarterback on the Cavaliers’ roster, left the game early in the third quarter after a hit near the goalline. He went into the medical tent, then back to the locker room, before returning to the sideline in the fourth quarter with his left shoulder heavily wrapped and iced.

After the game, Virginia coach Tony Elliott said he believed Morris suffered a sprained acromioclavicular (AC) joint and that he would be reevaluated Sunday. Elliott was “hopeful” that Morris would be able to play next weekend at North Carolina State.

Elliott said the big takeaway from Morris’s injury scare was that the veteran quarterback needs to slide. Morris had already picked up yardage when he saw a crease in the defense and began juking defenders on his way toward the end zone. He ended up taking a big hit at the 2-yard line.

“He even said it, on the ground. He’s like, ‘Man. I should’ve gone down,’” Elliott said. “But that’s the competitor that he is. ‘He also, said, ‘I saw the end zone. I wanted to score.’”

After a bit of a slow start, scoring wasn’t a problem for UVA for most of the night. It came up empty on its first three possessions, then scored on seven of its next eight drives, building a 28-0 halftime lead. It went ahead 35-0 when Tyalor scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run immediately after the Morris injury.

Defensively, Virginia held Coastal to 254 total yards and a 1 for 14 showing on third-down conversions.

Junior linebacker Landon Danley, who has spent most of his career on special teams, started in place of the injured Kam Robinson and led UVA with seven tackles.

The Cavaliers high-profile defensive end additions of Mitchell Melton, Fisher Camac and Cazeem Moore were only in on one sack, but the trio combined for 12 tackles and were a disruptive presence of the edge.

And Ross’s big return wasn’t the only spark UVA got from special teams Saturday night. Caleb Hardy blocked a punt in the second quarter, the program’s first since 2019 against Pittsburgh. Will Bettridge, after missing a 52-yard try on the Cavaliers’ first possession of the game, connected on attempts of 32 and 41, both in the fourth quarter.

“We got beat in all three phases today,” Coastal coach Tim Beck said. “We have a lot of work to do, obviously, and it showed.”