One of the biggest stories in college sports recently has been the ongoing legal battles between the NCAA and certain players seeking more years of eligibility. The most prominent one in college football was Trinidad Chambliss, who won his battle against the NCAA to return to Ole Miss for one year. Virginia football quarterback Chandler Morris was the latest to go up against the NCAA, but he lost.
According to 247Sports' Jacquie Franciulli, Morris lost his battle against the NCAA and was denied an extra year of eligibility by a judge. Morris was fighting the NCAA to secure a seventh season of college eligibility. He had filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for another season, arguing that he should have received a medical redshirt due to injuries sustained while at TCU in 2022 and 2023. He played in only four games in both seasons.
With Morris now officially out of eligibility, Virginia is going to move forward with Missouri transfer Beau Pribula and Pittsburgh transfer Eli Holstein at quarterback. They will enter spring and the fall with a quarterback battle brewing.
Replacing Morris will not be an easy task for the Virginia football team. Last season for UVA, Morris threw for 3,000 yards, 16 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while completing 65% of his passes. He gave UVA a lot of stability at the position, which they had been lacking in the Tony Elliott era so far.
The possibility of Morris landing this extension was a long shot from the jump. That is why the Cavaliers were ready and were active in the transfer portal, landing both Beau Pribula and Eli Holstein to try and get ahead of the possibility.
Pribula helped Mizzou win six of its first seven games and was 7-3 as the starting QB. He finished the year with a 67.4% completion percentage with 1,941 yards passing, 11 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, and also rushed for 297 yards and six touchdowns on 95 attempts. However, his season ended due to a leg injury he sustained near the end.
It is worth noting that Pribula's dual-threat ability might be what gives him a leg up in starting next year and makes him an X-factor hard to overlook.
