No player on Virginia’s roster embodies college football’s transfer madness and the Cavaliers’ quest for their first winning season since 2019 quite like Wallace Unamba. 

Indeed, Unamba’s path to Charlottesville screams “child of the portal.”

He began his college career at Kilgore Community College in Texas, spent a redshirt year at Florida Atlantic in 2023 and started 10 games last season at New Mexico for former UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall. One day after Mendenhall abruptly departed for Utah State in December, Unamba re-entered the transfer portal.

Unamba then signed with Kentucky, but following spring ball with the Wildcats, he transferred to Virginia.

Let’s hope his lease in Bluegrass Country had an escape hatch.

Administrators could curb this nonstop free agency by eliminating the winter or spring portal window, or by collectively bargaining with athletes and signing them to enforceable, multi-year contracts.

Until then, this is the chaotic way of the world, a world the Cavaliers are willing to navigate.

Seventh-year athletic director Carla Williams is leading that navigation, and as a former administrator at Florida State and Georgia (her alma mater), she is acutely aware of football’s economic impact. Toward that end, she has helped to raise tens of millions for infrastructure enhancements and player acquisition.

“I look at our team now and I go, wow, that physically we look like a Power Four team,” Williams told UVA radio voice John Freeman on a summer podcast. “And so, we’re making strides. I’d say that the ACC, we probably as a conference need to ensure that we never forget to invest in football. …

“Without a clear investment in football that is visible, then whether it’s conference realignment or media rights or television deals or sponsorships, if you don’t invest in the primary driver of this entire industry, then you’re sending a message that you don’t want to be a part of a national landscape moving forward. And we certainly want to be a part of a national landscape moving forward. And that starts with a proven track record of investing in the primary revenue driver.”

UVA’s depth chart for Saturday’s opener versus Coastal Carolina.

Which brings us back to Unamba, atop UVA’s depth chart at right tackle for Saturday’s season opener against visiting Coastal Carolina. He’s part of a 32-player transfer class that rated among the sport’s best, a group the program desperately needs to not only elevate front-line talent, but also create quality depth.

Such depth became essential as the Cavaliers’ offseason injuries mounted, especially in the secondary and along the offensive line.

Cornerbacks Jam Jackson, Dre Walker and Ja’Maric Morris, the latter a Georgia State transfer, are done for the year with torn ACLs, leaving Cincinnati transfer Jordan Robinson and Arizona transfer Emmanuel Karnley as the starters. At 6-foot-4 and 6-3, respectively, they give the Cavaliers extraordinary length at corner.

At offensive tackle, projected starter and Louisville transfer Monroe Mills tore an ACL in April, after which UVA signed Arkansas State transfer tackle Makilan Thomas as a potential replacement. But earlier this month, Thomas fractured a bone in his right foot, an injury that will shelve him for multiple months and elevated Unamba, a 6-6, 335-pound graduate student, to a starter’s role.

Moreover, linebacker Kam Robinson, the team’s sack leader and No. 2 tackler last season, is out for multiple games with a broken collarbone, UVA coach Tony Elliott revealed last week.

As an assistant coach, Elliott worked for a fiercely loyal boss in Clemson’s Dabo Swinney. Loyal to players and staff. But Swinney has always had limits.

In his second full season leading the Tigers, 2010, they finished 6-7 and ranked 83rd nationally in scoring. Swinney fired offensive coordinator Billy Napier and running backs coach Andre Powell.

Among the new assistants Swinney hired was Elliott, a former Clemson walk-on.

More recently, Swinney dismissed offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter after just one year in that position and defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin after three seasons.

David Teel: Ohio State transfer Mitchell Melton is a fascinating addition to UVA’s defense

Despite an 11-23 record, and in contrast to many embattled coaches — Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry among them — Elliott has not fired a single assistant coach.

Three members of his original staff — receivers coach Marques Hagans, offensive line coach Garett Tujague and linebackers coach Clint Sintim — each a holdover from Bronco Mendenhall’s tenure, exited for other Power Four programs. But that is the extent of the turnover.

Coordinators Des Kitchings (offensive), John Rudzinski (defense) and Keith Gaither (special teams) remain, as do four position coaches headlined by former UVA and Tabb High All-American Chris Slade (defensive ends).

“Continuity is big for me,” Elliott said last month, “and I’ve been very intentional with creating an environment where I can earn the trust and loyalty of the staff by their belief in the vision that we have and then also the environment that creates a good space for work/life balance. …

“But I think it’s (also) important for the student-athletes to hear a consistent voice. … With all the change around them, the last thing they need is a change in the meeting rooms.”

Elliott’s faith in his staff needs to be well-placed, because rare is the power-conference coach who survives four consecutive losing seasons to open his tenure. David Cutcliffe at Duke is a recent exception, but he arrived with six years of head-coaching experience at Ole Miss, where he was 44-29 overall and 4-1 in bowls, with two top-25 finishes.

As a first-time head coach, Elliott has no such bona fides. His 2025 transfer class could change the narrative.

“I think,” Elliott said Tuesday, “you’re gonna like what you see.”

David Teel: david.teel@virginiamedia.com

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/08/27/david-teel-wallace-unamba-uva/