Thursday marks the three-year anniversary of the tragic shooting that resulted in the deaths of three Virginia football players, Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry. This year, with two games remaining in the 2025 season, Virginia football finds itself looking back on the tragedy that prompted the cancellation of its final two games of the 2022 season.
The sentencing hearing for Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who pleaded guilty in November of 2024, is coming up during the Cavaliers’ bye week next week. With all of this in mind, Coach Tony Elliott acknowledged the difficulty of this time.
“[We] still got about 20 players on the roster that were here in [2022], so it's going to be a tough time for them … the next two weeks are going to be tough,” Elliott said.
Over the past two years, Nov. 13 has been used as a day to remember and honor the lives of Davis Jr., Chandler and Perry through events organized by the University and the Student Council.
In an email to the University community, Nicole Hall, senior associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students, detailed the events that will take place this year, a handful of which mirror the traditions that have been established in years prior.
The events range from the playing of “Amazing Grace” on the University Chapel bells, to a pledge against gun violence and a procession to the memorial tree planted in 2023. While not mandating it, Elliott is allowing his team to step away from football and take this time to remember their fallen teammates.
“It won't be something that'll be a team-mandatory activity,” Elliott said. “We will make sure [during Thursday’s events] that we don't have anything football-related, so that anybody, staff or player, that wants to pay their respect will have an opportunity to go over to the Chapel, or go over to the memorial site or just grieve and pay their respects in their own way.”
Despite the majority of the 2025 team not being at the University back in 2022, they acknowledge the impact that Davis Jr., Chandler and Perry left on the football program, the University and the community as a whole.
“I wasn't here when it took place, but I think that it's always going to be near and dear to the hearts of everybody who was here … then obviously for all the programs and teams that are going to come after it,” graduate tight end Sage Ennis said. “It’s a monumental day for Virginia and Virginia football.”
Elliott and Virginia football have continued to honor the lives of Davis Jr., Chandler and Perry beyond just Nov. 13. Ahead of their Sep. 13 matchup against William & Mary, Virginia named the game “U.Va. Strong Day,” where the numbers “1 15 41” were painted on both 25-yard lines. The game was an on-field tribute to the lost players, through both memorials and football.
In that game, the team was led onto the field by a trio of Cavaliers who don the numbers 1, 15 and 41. That game was an opportunity for Virginia’s newcomers to experience the love and support for Davis Jr., Chandler and Perry. It is one thing for players to see those men honored on the field, or inside the Hardie Football Operations Center, but it is another to live that experience in a game, according to Elliott.
“What we wanted to do today was just bring glory to those guys’ legacy,” Elliott said after the game.
The Cavaliers won the game in blowout fashion by a score of 55-16, their highest point total of the season to this point.
Though with every year, the tragedy of Nov. 13 moves further away in time, Virginia football continues to remember the lives of Davis Jr., Chandler and Perry, actively honoring the impact that they made in their time at Virginia.
“It's a time to think back and remember, but also I think of it as a celebration of those guys' lives,” Ennis said. “For us, it's great we get to do that – we get to have that celebration, we get to have that remembrance for them and, just keep them near and dear to our hearts.”
Xander Tilock contributed reporting.
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