Lavel Davis Jr., a junior at Virginia and promising wide receiver on the school’s football team, was reportedly among those killed in the shooting. The two other victims, Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry, were also football players, according to WTOP News. Both were shot and killed at the school’s main campus in Charlottesville on Sunday near a parking deck.
The news of Davis’ passing was confirmed on Twitter by Sean Lampkin, a tight-end coach and recruiting coordinator for Newbury College. Lampkin is also Davis’ cousin.
“Saddening, saddening news this morning,” Lampkin tweeted. “God took one of his most kind, humble, loving soldiers off of the battlefield last night. Please pray for my family as we are devastated by the passing [of] my cousin Lavel Davis Jr. Love and already miss you, kid.”
Hailing from Dorchester, South Carolina, Davis enjoyed a strong breakout year as a freshman, catching 20 passes for 515 yards and five touchdowns, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, with his 25.8 yard-per-reception mark that year ranking second in the nation. A knee injury kept him out of action in 2021, but he returned in the most recent season before suffering a concussion.
Davis’ strong performance on the field had some in the industry floating his name as a potential NFL draft prospect in the near future. Draft analyst Ryan Roberts included Davis in a list of six potential 2023 draft outliers in a tweet from May.
Other analysts and experts Newsweek reached out to also spoke highly of Davis and considered him a strong contender for a future draft.
“Coming back from injury and having a good 2022 was huge for his professional upside,” Cody Carpentier, draft analyst for PlayerProfiler, said. “I had him assumed to go back to UVA in 2023 and then entering the NFL Draft after next season, and currently was projecting to be a 4th/5th round pick. There was nobody with his frame in the NFL right now and, depending on testing, he would have been a great hybrids TE/WR weapon, especially in the Red Zone.”
“He had NFL potential,” John Vogel of NFL Draft Blitz said. “His size was special and with his combination of size and athleticism, and we just don’t see players like him. He was basically a basketball player playing football. He had potential to be a day two pick and could have been a special talent.”
Police are currently conducting a manhunt for the alleged shooter, Chris Jones, who is believed to still be armed and dangerous. Like two of his alleged victims, Jones was a former Virginia football player.
