By Friday morning, Virginia football fans were anxious for some news.

Phones were attached to hands. Screens were being constantly refreshed. Work was not getting done.

Then came the announcements—but not the news that fans tracking the search for the Wahoos’ new football coach had been waiting for.

In the midst of a coaching search that had entered its second week—but would soon draw to a close—Appomattox County teammates Tavorian Copeland and Jonathan Pennix took to Twitter to reveal that they’d just received offers to play at Virginia.

Those offers came with the UVa program still in a state of limbo, a week after Bronco Mendenhall had announced that he’d be stepping down after the Cavaliers’ bowl game and a few hours before Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was announced as the Virginia’s next head coach.

Director of player personnel Justin Anderson and director of high school relations Blanda Wolfe called the two players. In the midst of those conversations, Anderson offered scholarships to the two 2023 defensive prospects.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Pennix already had offers from Boston College, Pitt and West Virginia before Virginia joined that list last week. He had also made a pair of unofficial visits to UVa this fall. So the there-star cornerback had been expecting UVa to make an offer at some point, though the timing caught him off-guard.

“I always thought they would,” Pennix admitted shortly after that offer was extended, “but today surprised me.”

UVa was the first school to offer Copeland, a 6-foot-4, 195-pound outside linebacker who said he was “completely surprised” by the news.

“To me it means someone recognized all the hard work and time I’ve put in,” said Copeland, whose interest in the school goes beyond the football program.

“UVa’s medical program is great,” he explained, “and that’s the career path I want to pursue.”

The two juniors have won a lot of football games in their three seasons on the varsity team at Appomattox. They were on back-to-back VHSL Class 2 state championship teams, first as freshmen in 2019 and then during an unbeaten run through the COVID-altered season this past spring as sophomores.

This fall, they were part of an Appomattox defense that gave up just 13 points per game during a seven-game winning streak to close the regular season. The Raiders wound up winning 11 games and another region title—Pennix scored three times, including a pick-six, in the region championship game against Glenvar—before losing to Graham in the state semifinals.

During those conversations last week, the UVa staffers talked to the two Raiders about the football program’s renewed emphasis on targeting in-state prospects. That conversation was reinforced when Elliott declared “we’re going to make the state a priority” during his introductory press conference on Monday.

Elliott hasn’t named announced any members of his coaching staff yet. Pennix and Copeland were told that once the current recruiting dead period ends, they’ll get the chance to meet Elliott and that new staff.

But in the immediate aftermath of the news breaking that Elliott—who was part of a pair of national title teams in his 11 seasons on the Clemson coaching staff—would be the new UVa head coach, the two Appomattox teammates had positive reactions.

“It’s a great opportunity,” said Copeland.

Added Pennix, “He’s definitely going to take UVa to another level.”