Tony Elliott had some unfortunate news to share in his press conference following practice on Thursday evening. With just two days left until the end of spring football, Elliott reported that the Cavaliers have not made it through the spring without major injury setbacks as two projected starters have gone down with what appear to be serious injuries. Louisville transfer offensive lineman Monroe Mills has a torn ACL and will miss next season and senior cornerback Jam Jackson also suffered a knee injury and it’s yet to be determined if it will require surgery yet.
“Monroe [Mills] did all the testing and it ended up coming back being ACL, so unfortunately, he’s had surgery,” Elliott said on Thursday. “Hate that for him… but he’s in good spirits and excited. And we’re going to do everything we can to help him recover fully. And hopefully we’ll be able to see him out on on the field in a Cavalier uniform in the future.”
A graduate transfer from Louisville, Mills was one of the biggest transfer pickups of the offseason for Virginia, as On3 ranked him the top offensive tackle in the transfer portal and the No. 8 overall player in the portal. An All-ACC honorable mention last season, Mills has given up just four sacks in 2,335 snaps over the course of his college football career. Mills was essentially a lock to start this fall, but now the Cavaliers will just have to hope that he’ll utilize a medical redshirt and play for Virginia in 2026.
Jam Jackson was voted UVA’s Defensive Rookie of the Year last season after finishing third on the team in total tackles (58), fourth in solo stops (37), and second in pass breakups (6). A former transfer from Robert Morris, where he was an FCS Freshman All-American in 2023, Jackson was also a projected starter for Virginia this fall.
“And then with Jam, a red zone play in a scrimmage situation, [he] came down wrong,” Elliott recalled on Jackson’s injury. “We initially thought hyper extension. They did some scans. They did notice that there may be some some ligament damage, but they don’t know what extent. So they’re going to take another week, kind of let them rehab a little bit, and then reassess. So I’ll know more probably in about a week and a half, two weeks on Jam.”
Both injuries are significant for Virginia from a personnel standpoint. UVA has better depth on its offensive line after bringing in several transfer additions, but the loss of Mills will likely lower the ceiling for that unit in 2025. Jackson’s injury, meanwhile, is brutal for what is already an extremely thin cornerback room. The Cavaliers were already going to be on the hunt for a couple more defensive backs in the spring transfer window, but they might need three or four more especially if their only returning starting cornerback winds up missing significant time due to injury.
Virginia already had many notable players sitting out spring football with injuries, including safeties Antonio Clary and Caleb Hardy, defensive tackle Jason Hammond, linebackers Kam Robinson, Trey McDonald, and James Jackson, offensive linemen Noah Josey, McKale Boley, and Blake Steen, and punter Daniel Sparks. Those players are all expected to be fully healthy by the time fall camp rolls around. But needless to say, the blue and white teams that take the field for Saturday’s UVA football spring game will be missing quite a few of the key players expected to be on Virginia’s depth chart when the 2025 season gets underway.
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