Chandler Morris injury update: Virginia QB leaves to locker room after dirty hit, no targeting called

All eyes in the ACC are in Charlottesville on Saturday night, with the Virginia Cavaliers hosting the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Virginia enters the slate as the conference’s highest-ranked team in the College Football Playoff. If the 12-team field were set today, they would be in the tournament. A lot of the success is due to quarterback Chandler Morris and his emergence.

Well, early on against Wake Forest, Morris is out of the game. A late hit saw Morris stay down on the ground and need help from trainers after scrambling for around five yards. He thankfully did get back up and walk off the field with some help before eventually going into the locker room.

Of course, the health of Morris is top priority for Virginia. But the Hoos might be a little upset about the lack of a targeting call. Wake Forest did not get penalized, nor was there even a review from the booth. You can check out the back-end of Morris leaving the field here, plus hear the fans react to no flag being thrown after watching a replay.

Chandler Morris able to walk off the field to a huge ovation from the UVA fans.

Student section cheers his name and the fans react at the end to a replay showing a questionable no-call for targeting. pic.twitter.com/miXYwztpHu

— Preston Willett (@PrestonWillett) November 9, 2025

In the meantime, Daniel Kaelin is out there as the quarterback. Like Morris, Kaelin was brought into the program this offseason via the NCAA transfer portal. His career started at Nebraska, the hometown team. However, due to Dylan Railoa‘s emergence, the decision to transfer came in.

There is no word on the status of Morris to this point. If he is not able to continue moving forward, Kaelin suddenly finds himself in a massive situation. Virginia needs to remain on a winning path for both the ACC title race and the College Football Playoff.

More on Chandler Morris, performance throughout 2025

Virginia might not be the first stop for Morris during his college football season but it will be his last. After starting out at Oklahoma, TCU and North Texas have also been considered home. Morris got the opportunity to play at the power conference level again in 2025 and chose UVA.

In nine games, Morris has thrown for 2,069 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions while completing 67% of his throws. Morris is known for his dual-threat ability as well, adding 208 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Two games remain on the Virginia schedule after this one. First, a trip to Durham to face Duke before hosting Virginia Tech in a massive rivalry game.