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Report: Former Oklahoma QB Lands With Virginia

Chandler Morris scored a touchdown the last time the Sooners won a conference; now he's headed to his fourth school.

John E. Hoover

Chandler Morris
Chandler Morris / Tim Heitman-Imagn Images
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Another former Oklahoma quarterback has chosen his new school.

Chandler Morris, who began his career with the Sooners in 2020 before transferring to TCU and North Texas, will reportedly finish his career at Virginia, according to a report Monday from ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Morris, who scored OU’s first touchdown in the 2020 Big 12 Championship Game, announced his entry last Monday into the NCAA Transfer Portal. Morris ranks No. 4 in the nation with 31 touchdown passes this season (behind only Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward and Cade Klubnick) and is No. 5 nationally with 314.5 passing yards per game.

Morris, the son of well-traveled coach Chad Morris, began his college career with OU as a true freshman in 2020 — the last year the Sooners won a conference championship — and played in five games as a backup to Spencer Rattler.

The electrifying Morris completed 3-of-5 passes for 39 yards in his one year in the Crimson and Cream while also rushing five times for 44 yards and two touchdowns, including the opening touchdown in the Big 12 title game victory over Iowa State.

When Caleb Williams arrived in 2021, however, Morris decided to transfer. He requested a scholarship release from then-coach Lincoln Riley, who declined at first, saying intra-conference transfers were "unhealthy for college football."

Eventually, Riley let Morris go to TCU, where he played three seasons for the Horned Frogs’ national championship runner-up team. At TCU, Morris played in 15 games and passed for 2,394 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions while also rushing for 356 yards and four TDs. His big year was 2023, when he played in seven games, completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,532 yards with 12 TDs and five INTs.

Chad Morris was an assistant at Clemson alongside former Tigers offensive coordinator Tony Elliott. Elliott is now the head coach at Virginia.

"Coach Elliot is a guy I grew up admiring and could always see myself playing for," Chandler Morris told On3. "There are a lot of places you could just go and play one year of football, but I felt at Virginia I could make a real impact and help them take things to the next level."

The 6-foot, 191-pound Morris spent the 2024 season at North Texas and played in all 12 games for the Mean Green, posting career highs in completions (322), attempts (512), yards (3,774), touchdowns (31) and interceptions (12) while completing 63 percent his passes. Morris averaged 314.5 yards per game through the air and also compiled 242 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Morris played high school football at Dallas Highland Park, where he was an Under Armour All-American and a 4-star prospect by ESPN. Morris was rated a 3-star by 247 Sports and Rivals. ESPN tabbed him as the No. 7 dual-threat QB in the country and the No. 32 prospect in the state of Texas. 

At Highland Park, Morris led his team to a 16-0 record and 5A-1 state championship as a junior in 2018, as he threw for 4,036 yards and 46 touchdowns with just six interceptions and added 651 yards and 20 touchdowns rushing. He was even named MVP of the state championship game. As a senior, Morris threw for 3,658 yards and 42 touchdown and added 635 yards rushing with 17 scores.

Morris was 27-2 as a starter in his final two seasons in high school as he accounted for 8,980 yards and 125 touchdowns.

Morris' list of suitors during his transfer period included Oklahoma State, UCF and Memphis. For Virginia to emerge as the winner speaks to the program's increased football ambitions, as the Cavaliers were among the lowest in the ACC in that category in 2023.

Morris, who turns 24 this month chose Virginia over Oklahoma State, UCF and Memphis, among others. He has 21 career starts, including the 2022 season opener for TCU. But he suffered a knee injury in that game against Colorado and was replaced by Max Duggan, who led the Horned Frogs to the national championship game.

After another knee injury with TCU in 2023, he transferred to North Texas.

This year's NCAA Transfer Portal opened officially opened on Dec. 9. To be eligible to play right away in 2025, players must enter their name into the transfer portal before Dec. 28. The spring portal window runs from April 16-25, 2025.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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