'He looks really, really good' — Ja'Maric Morris has Tony Elliott fired up

Virginia football's 2025 transfer class was one of the main reasons why they improved so much last season, and though guys like Chandler Morris, J'Mari Taylor, Brady Wilson and Fisher Camac shined, another player named Ja'Maric Morris could have stood out as well if he hadn't suffered a season-ending injury in August.

Now, it looks like he's ready to step in and continue what he started in Charlottesville after transferring in from Georgia State last year. Not only that, but it looks like he'll be playing a new position in 2026 as well for DC John Rudzinski.

Morris moves to a more valuable spot in UVA's defense

Another official position change for #Virginia football:

CB Ja’Maric Morris ➡️ Safety
— Matt Wilson (@CoachWilson66) August 4, 2026

To be 100% honest, it always looked like Morris was more of a safety, even at GSU in 2024. He has elite length and processing skills, which have allowed him to make up for occasionally slow feet on the boundary.

After Monday's fall camp practice, the media got to ask Tony Elliott about Morris in a quick presser:

Q: "Ja’Maric Morris, he looks like he's gotten a lot bigger moving to safety. What have you seen from him coming back from injury and then working this offseason and developing a little bit more?"

TE: "Yeah, he came in big. I think that's what we sometimes we forget. He was 200 plus pounds playing corner before he got hurt last spring.

And so then having the offseason to really just focus on the total body as he's rehabbing. The
knee. He looks really, really good. Probably about 218, 219 pounds.

He’s worked really hard to gain his confidence in his knee. He plays a position where, man, it's a lot of change of direction, a lot of violent cuts that you have to make. And each day that goes by, you're just seeing more and more confidence. And so you're starting to see, right, flashes of what we saw before he got hurt. And this naturally, probably the nickel position, safety position, is a better fit for him just because of his size, his length, and his physicality.aa

Now, last year when he came in, we really didn't have that luxury, right? We were down corners. We needed corners. He had to play corner for us, but just a credit to his versatility. So, I mean, I'm excited for him. And each day that goes by, I think tomorrow will be a big day. It'll be a big hurdle, too, because we put the full pads on and we get to go live for the first time in camp.

So, that'll be another hurdle. But so far, he's been passing his tests with flying colors."

As Coach Elliott mentioned, Morris could even see time as a "big" nickel/SPUR in 2026, which could do wonders for the defense against offenses that use bigger receivers or even tight ends in the slot to try and create mismatches.

Though he hasn't been talked about as much as he probably should be, Ja'Maric Morris could end up playing a massive role in Virginia's defense this season.

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