Virginia athletic director Carla Williams delivered the keynote commencement address during graduation ceremonies Saturday on a day when the university and football program also remembered three players killed in an on-campus shooting in November.
The families of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry had previously been awarded posthumous degrees. But Perry was scheduled to graduate Saturday and his mother, Happy, asked to attend the ceremony in his place. When Williams told her she would be allowed to do so, Williams asked, "Are you sure you can do it? She paused and said, 'Yes.