Virginia football hires grandson of BYU legend Lavell Edwards

Matthew Edwards, wide receivers coach at Southern Virginia University and the grandson of legendary BYU head football coach Lavell Edwards, will be joining the Virginia Cavaliers football staff, according to a tweet from Edwards.

The official Twitter account for Virginia Football retweeted Edwards’ announcement.

Edwards joins the Cavaliers staff after two years as an assistant at Southern Virginia University, a Division III program in Buena Vista. According to his SVU bio, Edwards coached wide receivers and was the recruiting coordinator for the Knights.

As is a common thread among UVA’s assistants, Edwards played for Bronco Mendenhall at BYU. He lettered as a tight end in 2010 and 2011, then was a graduate assistant for the Cougars. Edwards joins both linebackers coaches, Shane Hunter and Kelly Poppinga, as former Mendenhall players who are now assistant coaches.

Lavell Edwards is known as one of the progenitors of the modern passing offense. His quarterbacks of the 1980s and 1990s were legendary, including NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young, Super Bowl champion Jim McMahon, and Heisman winner Ty Detmer. Hopefully Virginia’s newest coach learned a thing or two from his grandfather along the way.

Welcome to Charlottesville, Matt!