UVA football players honored in memorial service
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia players remembered teammates Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry during a memorial service on Saturday, sharing stories and shedding tears — all while letting the world know how much they would dedicate the rest of their lives in their memory.
With the Chandler, Davis and Perry families sitting in the front row, and the entire football team in the rows behind them, the memorial was an opportunity not only for remembrances about all three, but in the words of university president Jim Ryan, “to start the healing of our beloved university.”
Chandler, Davis and Perry were shot and killed last Sunday on a charter bus after returning from a school field trip, devastating both the football team and the entire Charlottesville community. Running back Mike Hollins was shot and remains hospitalized. A fifth student, Marlee Morgan, was shot and is recovering at home with her family.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Prosecutors have also charged him with two counts of malicious wounding and additional gun-related charges related to shooting Hollins and Morgan. He is being held without bail in a Charlottesville jail.
Nobody at the memorial mentioned the way Chandler, Davis and Perry died. Rather, they focused on the way they lived.
Pictures of all three players were displayed on stage, where athletic director Carla Williams, coach Tony Elliott, Ryan and Virginia Rector Whitt Clement also were seated. The MLK Community Choir performed, and Grammy Award-winning gospel singer CeCe Winans sang “Goodness of God.”
Williams shared stories that their families told her. Chandler was known as “Devin the Dancing Machine” to his family. His uncle showed her a video of 10-year-old Devin arriving at track practice early, getting out of the car and “proceeding to put on a one-kid dance-off in the parking lot. His rhythm was suspect, but his confidence was never in doubt.”
Whenever Davis went home, he wanted his grandmother to cook for him.
“He especially loved the 18 scrambled eggs she would make for him,” Williams said.
As for Perry, when he was 6, he wanted to be a red Power Ranger for Halloween. His parents bought him his costume, and he didn’t take it off until after Thanksgiving — a story that drew a chuckle from the crowd of 9,075, which included former Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips and a large contingent of former Cavaliers football players, including Chris Long and Heath Miller.
Video montages of each player, featuring highlights and interviews, were shown before players took the stage to say a few words about their fallen teammates. The memorial was the first opportunity for players to speak publicly about their teammates.
Virginia linebacker Chico Bennett Jr. paused multiple times as he spoke about Davis, his big smile and the way he would passionately defend his side in any argument.
“The grief, the loss, the heartache, the loss will never be gone,” Bennett said. “Now we just learn how to manage it. But rather than being sad, I’ll remember the smile and do right by you and continue to chase our common dreams of graduating and continuing our football careers. Oh, what I would give to see that smile of yours just one more time. Unfortunately, I cannot, but I know you are smiling up there and so far that I will do the same down here. I love you, little brother.”
Others told funny stories as a way to honor their teammates’ memories. Cornerback Elijah Gaines described Davis’ love for his hometown of Ridgeville, South Carolina, a small community less than an hour from Charleston. Gaines came to Virginia from New York — a city many, many times larger than Davis’ hometown.
“I swear Lavel would make Ridgeville sound like it was the biggest city in the world,” Gaines said. “I’m pretty sure there’s only 2,000 people there. He had this one tattoo on his arm, 187. I’m like, ‘Is that your area code?’ He’s like, ‘Nah it’s my exit.’ I’m like, ‘An exit? Why you repping an exit?’ ‘That’s where I’m from!'”
Safety Donovan Johnson wanted to share humorous stories about Perry because of the sense of humor he had.
“He liked to get me on the field,” Johnson said. “We were doing scout, and this was maybe early in the season and I didn’t get the call. He gave me the wrong call and Coach looked at me like, ‘Bro what are you doing?’ So later in the season, he asked me what the call was. I was like, I got him. I told him, ‘You’re blitzing.’
“So as the play went on, he walked up and he noticed he wasn’t blitzing on that play and then he looked over at me. ‘Bro, don’t ever do that again.’ I was like, ‘Got you!'”
Kicker Will Bettridge was especially poignant in talking about Perry, as the two played together in youth football, high school and at Virginia.
“You were a role model to me, and a mentor to me as I watched your every move and I wanted to be just like you,” Bettridge said. “You were a rock star in the community, giving back and helping others and doing everything for everyone before yourself. Your presence was felt each and every day I was able to share it with you. You were the first one to be there with me after a make or a miss. Your outlook on life never changed.
“I strive to be like you in many ways, your work ethic, your compassion, your mindset, your loyalty. The world would be a better place with more people like you, D’Sean.”
Running back Cody Brown echoed similar thoughts about Chandler in a letter he wrote to him.
“You lit our lives up like a shining star in the sky. You had a special gift when it came to talking to people, making them laugh, making them feel loved. It didn’t matter if it was someone you didn’t know at all, you could talk to them like you knew them for years,” Brown said. “Your joy for life was contagious and you made them happy. You were always true to yourself — it was your world and we’re just living in it.”
Elliott closed the program with remarks that leaned heavily on his faith, and promise for brighter days ahead.
“To everyone here I say, we will turn today’s tragedy into tomorrow’s triumph,” Elliott said. “We have a mission going forward and that mission requires a tremendous amount of responsibility. Amidst the pain and suffering there is hope. Weeping is going to last for the night, but great joy is coming in the morning. Because of 1, 15, 41, we have the responsibility to rebuild this community and program on the legacy of their stars, and do so in such a way as to bring light unto the world.
“Lavel, Devin, D’Sean, I’m so looking forward to the strength, motivation, courage and love that you all will provide as we triumph in the days ahead. My young kings, may you celebrate in paradise, and we will celebrate on this side each and every day with the light of your stars.”
-
Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
For years, teammates have asked Devin Williams to teach them his changeup, a pitch so unusual and dominant it has its own nickname. Williams always helps. They just never get “The Airbender” right.
“I haven’t seen anyone replicate it,” Williams said.
Powered by The Airbender, Williams has established himself as one of the premier relievers in baseball since breaking into the majors in 2019. He has been so good that the Milwaukee Brewers, keeping with their frugal roster-building tactics, traded Williams to the New York Yankees last month for left-hander Nestor Cortes and prospect Caleb Durbin before he inevitably would become too expensive in free agency next winter.
So, for one season, at least, Williams will follow in the footsteps of another Yankees closer who perplexed hitters with one pitch: Mariano Rivera.
“Those are big shoes to fill,” Williams said of Rivera, whose signature cutter helped him become the first player voted unanimously to the Hall of Fame. “I feel he kind of ruined it for everybody else. I mean, after him, it’s hard to live up to those expectations. But at the end of the day, I can only be me.”
Being himself has been more than good enough for the 30-year-old Williams. The right-hander won the 2020 National League Rookie of the Year Award with a 0.33 ERA in 22 games as the Brewers’ primary setup man during the COVID-shortened campaign. He was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, his first full season as a closer.
Last season, after missing the first four months with stress fractures in his back, he posted a 1.25 ERA with 14 saves in 15 opportunities across 22 appearances. His 40.8% strikeout rate since 2020 ranks second in the majors among relievers. His 1.70 ERA is also second. His .144 batting average against ranks first.
“Obviously, he’s one of the best in the league, if not the best,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said.
For Williams, it all starts with The Airbender. Williams grips it like a changeup and its 84-mph average velocity plays off his fastball like a changeup. But it’s a changeup with an exceptionally high spin rate that breaks to his arm side — opposite from the typical changeup — making it resemble a screwball or a left-hander’s sweeping slider. It is without precedent.
“It’s not anything to do with the grip,” Williams said. “The grip is nothing special. That’s why I think it’s funny when people are like, ‘Oh, don’t give it away.’ This is the most basic changeup grip they teach you when you’re 8 years old.”
Williams said his changeup is so different for two reasons: His elite extension, which ranked in the 98th percentile in 2024, and a singular ability to pronate his wrist.
“It’s the way my wrist works, the way I’m able to manipulate the ball is something unique, uniquely me,” Williams said. “It allows me to throw my changeup the way I throw it. I’m a really good pronator, not supinator. That’s why my slider sucked. You need to get on the other side of the ball. I’m not good at that. I’m good at turning it over.”
Williams did, however, modify his changeup grip to unearth the weapon. Entering 2019, Williams was a struggling minor league starter with a solid changeup, two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He was one year from reaching free agency, from perhaps seeing his career come to an end and going to college to play soccer.
That spring, seeking more movement, he altered his changeup grip from a two-seam to a four-seam, circle change grip. He first threw it during a live batting practice session to Trent Grisham, then a Brewers prospect. Grisham, now with the Yankees, told Williams the spin difference was noticeable. Williams stuck with it.
A starter through spring training, Williams was sent to Double-A as a reliever to begin the season. The demotion sparked desperation, and Williams decided to throw harder than ever, reaching back to lift his fastball into the high 90s. He was in the majors by August. But it wasn’t until the COVID shutdown in 2020 — when he realized spinning the ball more and dropping the velocity from high-80s to mid-80s created more movement — that his changeup reached another level.
“I took that into the season and at summer camp I’m facing my own teammates,” Williams said. “And Jedd Gyorko, I threw him one, and he swung and missed and he was just like, What is that? I’ve never seen [anything] like that. That gave me confidence and we just ran with it. And I literally started throwing it all the time.”
Coincidentally, Williams said the closest changeup he’s seen to his belongs to Luke Weaver, whose emergence as a shutdown reliever in 2024 was crucial in the Yankees reaching the World Series. Williams happened to be in New York when the Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Fall Classic. He was on his annual autumn vacation after the Brewers were eliminated from the postseason. Past trips have taken him all over Europe: London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Munich, Dortmund, with a soccer game invariably on his itinerary.
This time, he was in New York. He explored the city for 10 days. Instead of soccer, he watched the World Series from a bar. He shopped. He ate good food. He absorbed the city’s energy.
“I’m a city guy,” Williams said. “I love to explore cities. I like to immerse myself in the culture. I want to be like a normal, everyday person. You guys like bacon, egg and cheese? All right, I’m getting a bacon, egg and cheese.”
Less than two months later, as part of a series of moves executed in their pivot from Juan Soto‘s decision to sign with the crosstown Mets, the Yankees added Williams. On Thursday, Williams settled for $8.6 million to avoid arbitration.
He’ll partner with Weaver to create one of the best bullpen back ends in baseball — in hopes of helping the Yankees win their first championship since Rivera was dominating hitters with his cutter.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway