Virginia DL Terrell Jones Plans To Enter The Transfer Portal

Virginia loses veteran defensive lineman Terrell Jones, who entered his name into the transfer portal. Jones finished his career with Virginia with 34 tackles and 11 tackles for loss. He was a big part of the initial start of head coach Tony Elliot’s first recruitment class in 2022.

Virginia DL Terrell Jones is entering the transfer portal, his rep @CRogSuperAgent tells @PeteNakos.

The 6-foot-5, 285-pound DL appeared in 14 games, posting 34 career tackles, 11 TFLs, 9 QB hurries and a forced fumble. Has two years of eligibility remaining.… pic.twitter.com/C9s7MNpB7w
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) December 30, 2025

Jones had a career year in 2024 when he finished with 24 tackles. He didn’t play a lot in 2025, but still put up numbers. Jones finished with four tackles and a forced fumble. Joe's posted a 79.8 defensive grade per Pro Football Focus (PFF). The most impressive grade was in run defense where he finished with an 86.7 run defense grade. He posted an 88.0 defensive grade against Coastal Carolina on 20 snaps and an even better 92.0 run defense grade. In that game, he also forced his first career forced fumble against the Chanticleers.

Here is more via his Virginia Cavaliers Bio:

“Notched his first career forced fumble in the fourth quarter of UVA’s 48-7 season-opening win over Coastal Carolina (8/30). 2024 – Started in one of the 11 games he appeared in … Made his first career start at defensive end in 24-19 win at No. 23 Pittsburgh (11/9) … Finished with a career-high six tackles, including four solo and 1.5 for-loss against Pitt … Recorded his first career tackle-for-loss in 24-14 win over Boston College (10/5). 2023 – Appeared in four games. 2022 – Appeared in one game and made his collegiate debut in the final game of the season against Pitt (Nov. 12).”

While Jones is a loss for the Cavaliers, especially in run defense, he played a reserve role with the Cavaliers. The Hoos were led by Fisher Camac, Daniel Rickert, and Mitchell Melton on the defensive line. Virginia will be a different-looking team in 2026 with so many veteran and senior-driven players. They will have to get depth and young players who can come in and play at a high level. With Virginia not having a highly ranked 2026 recruiting class, they will have to do a lot of their damage from the transfer portal. As of late, the Hoos have been successful in the portal. Looking back at their 2025 transfer portal class, names like Emmanuel Karnley, Donavon Platt, Harrison Waylee, Cam Ross, Mitchell Melton, Fisher Camac, Maddox Marcellus, Jahmal Edrine, Ja’Son Prevard, J’mari Taylor, Devin Neal, and Chandler Morris were all significant additions to the team, and this is why they were so successful this past year.

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