JR Wilson had a phone call to make Wednesday morning.

The 6-foot-5 receiver from Brooklyn (NY) Canarsie who signed with Virginia two weeks ago wanted to check in with Marques Hagans and wish his future position coach a happy birthday.

Earlier this week, UVa announced that Hagans would be one of three assistants retained by new head football coach Tony Elliott. The news didn’t come as a huge surprise to Wilson. Not after Hagans had assured the three-star recruit during an in-home visit prior to signing day that he had a good sense that he’d remain on the UVa coaching staff, which had been thrown into upheaval by former coach Bronco Mendenhall’s decision to step down.

Mendenhall’s announcement came less than two weeks before signing day. Elliott was hired as his successor less than a week before recruits could sign. UVa lost more than a half-dozen commitments amid the uncertainty. Wilson briefly considered weighing his other options as well

“I did have second thoughts,” Wilson admitted to CavsCorner this week, “but I was like, ’As long as Coach Hagans is there, I should be fine.’”

Wilson was one of three receivers to sign with UVa this month, along with Wisconsin transfer Devin Chandler and Mooresboro (NC) Thomas Jefferson Academy senior Dakota Twitty.

When the news broke on Monday that Hagans, offensive line coach Garett Tujague and defensive line coach Clint Sintim would all be retained by Elliott, the text group populated by UVa’s 10 total class of 2022 signees began buzzing with activity. But Twitty had just played the first game of his basketball team’s holiday tournament, and didn’t give the text thread much attention.

“Then my mom, she actually called me and told me about it,” recalled Twitty. “And then I texted Coach Hagans about it and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m staying.’ And I was like, ‘That’s what’s up. Let’s get to work.’”

Twitty had spent the past month watching as “controlled chaos,” as he described it, unfolded throughout college football. At first, he and UVa’s other recruits were simply observers—until they got swept into the upheaval with Mendenhall’s surprise announcement on December 2nd.

“I remember looking at Oklahoma and seeing their coaches leave,” Twitty told CavsCorner, “and was like, ‘Dang. That must suck for like their players and their recruits and stuff.’ And then to see it move like a wave through college football and make its way around to Virginia, I was like, ‘Wow.’”

Like Wilson, Twitty still signed with the Wahoos this month despite not knowing whether Hagans would be back. A former UVa quarterback and NFL wide receiver, Hagans has been a coach at his alma mater since joining Mike London’s staff as a graduate assistant in 2011. Hagans has been the Hoos’ wide receivers coach since 2013.

There are 15 receivers on UVa’s all-time top 20 career receptions list; Hagans has coached nine of them. This year’s team had four receivers finish with at least 600 receiving yards led by Dontayvion Wicks, who set the school’s single-season record with 1,203 receiving yards. Wicks and Keytaon Thompson were both All-ACC selections.

That track record for developing big receivers attracted both Wilson and Twitty to playing for Hagans. But they were both even more drawn by the personal connections they were able to build with the position coach.

“I really feel like he reinforced my decision the most,” Wilson explained. “Having someone looking out for you on and off the field was a really big strong suit for me.”

The weekend he was hired (and just three days before signing day), Elliott met with Virginia’s 2022 commitments virtually on Zoom. The recruits were aware of Elliott’s reputation as offensive coordinator at Clemson, but it was a chance for the new coach to introduce himself and describe his vision for the UVa program. Elliott was straightforward and honest as he laid out what the players could expect from him, and what his expectations would be should they choose to sign with the school.

That conversation also put the two big receivers more at ease with the leap of faith they’d be taking by signing a few days later.

“I really fell in love with Virginia as a place, and it wasn’t necessarily the coaches that were there but the ideals that they had. I loved every single part of it,” explained the 6-foot-5 Twitty. “And then to see Coach Elliott kind of re-embrace those to us and show them to the recruits again, like he has the same ideals that the school had when Coach Bronco was recruiting us, it kind of sold it for me.”

“And then to see my wide receiver coach, Coach Hagans, to stay?” Twitty added. “I can’t even tell you how happy I was.”

Elliott has remained in contact with the signing class via another group text. He checked in with the players earlier this week to make sure they had a good holiday. Three of the signees, Chandler plus quarterback Davis Lane and linebacker Stevie Bracey, are enrolling at UVa next month. Twitty, Wilson and others intend to make a mid-January official visit to meet Elliott and his new staff.

By that point, they’ll know whether UVa quarterback Brennan Armstrong will be back for his fifth college season. The redshirt junior lefty who just set several single-season school passing records this fall has yet to publicly announce whether he’ll turn pro or return to school.

Both incoming receivers are hoping he chooses to stay.

“I think it would be really cool to play with him,” said Twitty. “Watching him play makes you want to play with him even more. Going to the games and seeing him in person and meeting him, you can already tell that he’s a good guy that you want to be around. I think I would have a blast playing with him.”

While Twitty is in the middle of his final season of high school basketball, Wilson is still working his way back from the torn right ACL he suffered early this fall. He had surgery on the knee in October. Wilson will start running on the leg next month, and is on target to finish therapy in early May and be 100 percent healthy when he arrives at UVa next summer.

Wicks has already indicated that he will return to Virginia next season. The Hoos will also get 6-foot-7 receiver Lavel Davis Jr. back after he missed all of this year with a knee injury suffered in spring practice. Thompson and fellow fifth-year senior Billy Kemp could also both return to use their extra COVID season of eligibility.

But the incoming freshman receivers already know Hagans will be back to guide that wide receiver room. They’re eager to become the next big targets to develop into playmakers under his tutelage.

“I feel like surrounding yourself with better people is gonna force you to get better,” said Wilson. “That receiver group almost produced three 1,000-yard receivers; it makes you want to be in that position. So I feel like getting around them, learning from them, taking that experience day by day is gonna make me and Dak better overall.”

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