Coach: Slain Virginia football players ‘were all good kids’

Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry were juniors returning to campus from a class trip to see a play Sunday night when authorities say they were killed by a fellow student.

The young men were members of the Virginia football team, journeying through periods of transition in their careers — whether it was bouncing back from a season-ending injury, changing positions on the team or transferring in from another school.

“They touched us, inspired us and worked incredibly hard,” head football coach Tony Elliott said in a statement.

Their absence was already being felt on campus, prompting American studies professor Jack Hamilton to tweet that he was “just stunned and devastated and completely at a loss.”

Hamilton had Chandler and Davis as students.

“In my experience, star athletes often tend to hang out with other athletes (understandable, given the time commitment),” Hamilton wrote. “But (Davis) seemed to go out of his way to make friends with non-athletes.”

As the tragedy reverberated throughout the campus, the head football coach was seen sitting alone at a table outside the university’s football offices, his head in his hands.

“They were all good kids,” Elliott said before getting into an SUV with several other coaches.

A couple hours later, teammate Aaron Faumui spoke briefly through tears.

“I don’t even know what to say right now,” said the college senior who plays defensive tackle. “I just want to say they were three young great men.”

The grief was felt widely, penetrating football programs across the country — in part because college athletes can move around more with the easing of transfer restrictions. Players from Wisconsin to Utah and Washington state mourned because they had played at Virginia.

“Can’t put into words the physical and mental pain that comes with losing not just teammates, but brothers,” tweeted Wayne Taulapapa, a running back who transferred from Virginia to the University of Washington. “You were never just football players, but rather examples of great and honorable young men.”

The shooting happened just after 10:15 p.m. Sunday as a charter bus full of students returned from seeing a play in Washington, D.C.. University President Jim Ryan said authorities did not have a “full understanding” of the motive or circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Police on Monday captured a university student, Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., 22, whom they say is suspected of shooting the three football players and wounding two others. Jones had once played on the football team, but had not been a member of the team for at least a year, police said.

On Monday morning, Lavel Davis Sr. posted a message on Facebook: “Lord please help me.”

LAVEL DAVIS JR.

Davis was a 6-foot-7 wide receiver from Dorchester, South Carolina. He finished the 2020 season ranked No. 2 in the nation and No. 1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference for average yards per reception, among many other accolades.

An undisclosed injury sidelined Davis for the 2021 season but he returned this year, starting six of the first seven games. In the season opener against the University of Richmond, Davis caught four passes for 89 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown. He was on a watch list for 2022 Comeback Player of the Year.

Herman Moore, who developed a friendship with Davis as an alumni-mentor, said Davis was hoping to finish his college career on a high note after bouncing back from his injury.

Davis had aspirations for the NFL. But he was also thinking about life beyond sports, perhaps in business. The future, however, was yet to be decided.

“He wanted to be recognized as the best receiver in the nation,” Moore said. “And he felt he had all the tools and the athleticism to get it done.”

DEVIN CHANDLER

Chandler was a wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina. He recently transferred from Wisconsin. His accomplishments for the Badgers included a 59-yard kickoff return and 18-yard rush in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against Wake Forest in 2020.

“Once a badger, always a badger,” Jim Leonhard, the University of Wisconsin’s interim head football coach, tweeted Monday.

“He had a lasting impact on his teammates, even after he left UW, which is a testament to the type of person he was,” Leonhard wrote. “His personality was infectious and he was a joy to be around. Our team is hurting for him and his family.”

Hamilton, the American studies professor, said on Twitter that Chandler had been in one of his large lecture classes.

“He nevertheless made a point to come to my office hours repeatedly, often just to ask questions about how things worked around UVA,” Hamilton wrote.

The professor later helped Chandler to declare his major in American studies

“He was an unbelievably nice person, always a huge smile, really gregarious and funny,” Hamilton wrote. “One of those people who’s just impossible not to like.”

D’SEAN PERRY

Perry was a linebacker from Miami, Florida. In September, Perry told the Daily Progress that he was called to the Cavaliers’ football offices. Linebackers coach Clint Sintim said he needed Perry to move from linebacker to defensive end.

Perry told the newspaper it was “no problem at all. It was a smooth transition.”

“Honestly, I feel like I can do both (linebacker and defensive end),” Perry said. “And I prepared myself well to work in space and pass rush during the offseason. … So, both positions I’m very comfortable with and I’m just trying to help the team win.”

Perry appeared in seven games this year and made seven tackles.

Michael Haggard, an attorney for Perry’s parents, issued a statement thanking the South Florida and the Charlottesville communities for “the outpouring of support during this impossibly tragic time,” according to NBC News.

“Right now, Happy and Sean will not speak publicly about the incident as their grief is only beginning, and out of respect for the University of Virginia community which has been terrorized by another mass shooting in the United States,” the statement said.

MIKE HOLLINS

Mike Hollins, a running back on the football team who was also shot, was in stable condition Monday, his mother Brenda Hollins told The Associated Press.

“Mike is a fighter — and he’s showing it,” she said after flying to Virginia from Louisiana. “We have great doctors who have been working with him. And most importantly, we have God’s grace and God’s hands on him.”

Like most college football players, Hollins has aspirations to play professionally, his mother said. But he has other dreams and goals, which include being an educator.

“We’re praying for the other families,” she said.

This story has been corrected to show that Jim Leonhard is the University of Wisconsin’s interim head football coach. He is no longer the team’s defensive coordinator.

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia. Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.