Brown Ready to Make Up for Lost Time

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — His coaches at the University of Virginia remember the burst Xavier Brown showed and the way he ran in the open field as a true freshman. Many of his teammates, however, have never seen him carry the football in a game.

“It’s like he’s starting all over again,” said Keith Gaither, who coaches the Cavaliers’ running backs.

Brown, who’s from Lexington, Ky., was named UVA’s offensive rookie of the year in 2022 after rushing 50 times for 210 yards and a touchdown. He was expected to play a leading role for the Wahoos last year but instead spent much of the summer and fall recovering from injuries.

On the first day of training camp last August, Brown dislocated his elbow. He rehabbed diligently and was cleared to play late in the season, but his return was short-lived.

Brown made his 2023 debut against Georgia Tech on Nov. 4 and then, in front of a sizable cheering section of friends and family members from Lexington, tore a tendon in his triceps a week later at Louisville. Brown didn’t carry the ball in either game, and his triceps injury required surgery.

“Wanting to build off the freshman season that I had, it was very frustrating not being able to be out here with the guys,” Brown said after a recent practice. “But I was able to learn a lot more about the game and just support my teammates.”

He wasn’t able to participate in full-contact periods during spring practice this year, but the 5-foot-9, 195-pound Brown is healthy again and eager to re-establish himself as an offensive weapon for the Wahoos, who open the season Aug. 31 against Richmond at Scott Stadium.

Being back on the field has “been amazing,” Brown said. “I’ve missed football a lot. A lot. It’s made me really appreciate being back out here with the guys and competing every day.”

The coaching staff is thrilled to have No. 20 back. “We know Xavier. He’s going to come to work every day,” Gaither said.

“I’m excited about X Brown,” head coach Tony Elliott said. “I think we all saw X Brown as a freshman. We were like, ‘Man, this guy’s got a chance,’ and then he was banged up last year.”

In a win over Old Dominion, Brown rushed nine times for 88 yards early in his first season. Later that fall, he carried 12 times for 45 yards and caught four passes for eight yards against Georgia Tech.

Brown showed that “he had some acceleration,” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. “He ran hard, he wasn’t easy to tackle, and now he’s added weight and he’s gotten stronger. Obviously, he’s getting back into it, getting the rust off, but you see the vertical ability he has. I think he’s got the speed to be a home-run guy, and that would be a great piece to us, to have a 50-yard run for a touchdown or something.”

Kobe Pace, who totaled 382 yards rushing and 176 receiving last season, is the projected starter at tailback, “but he’s got to go earn it,” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said.

Also pushing for playing time at that position are Brown, Noah Vaughn, Jack Griese and Donte Hawthorne. Vaughn and Hawthorne redshirted last year. Griese played in 10 games and carried three times for 25 yards.

“We’ve got some young guys that deserve opportunities,” Elliott said, “so you’ve got to make sure that all of them are given the reps that they need to display what they can do from a competition standpoint.”

The Hoos opened started training camp last week. Camp can be a grind, but Brown has no complaints. He couldn’t wait to get back to work, “just wanting to be out here with the guys and wanting to compete every day, knowing that this is my love. I love this game, I love this sport, I love this team, and I love being out here competing with my brothers every day.”

Brown has grown accustomed to overcoming obstacles. During his illustrious career at Lexington Catholic High School—he averaged 12.9 yards per carry in 2021 and was named Kentucky’s Gatorade Player of the Year—he had three surgeries: two on his shoulder and one on his knee. And so he never grew despondent about the injuries he suffered in 2023.

“It was just another piece of adversity in my life,” Brown said.

In tough times, he’s leaned on his faith, as well as the support of his parents and teammates and coaches. “They’ve been my backbone through pretty much everything,” Brown said.

He’s also received counsel from former UVA tailback Howard Petty, with whom Brown is paired in the Cavalier Circle mentorship program that Elliott launched last year.

“He talked to me a lot when I was injured,” Brown said. “The big piece was just staying engaged and staying mentally ready and just being a supporter for the guys that are there now, and then when it’s my time to hit the grass running and not take a step back.”

Petty, who’s based in Washington, D.C., played for head coach George Welsh in the 1980s and ranks 14^th in career rushing yards at UVA, with 2,171. Brown has impressed him in their interactions.

“What strikes me about Xavier is the fact he seems to be the model of what we want at Virginia,” Petty said. “When you have a talented, dedicated, determined and intelligent individual who’s willing to stick through four years of football and four years of school and come out on the other end at Virginia, more chances than not you’re going to be successful in life. And I see him doing that, and I’m enthused every time I talk to him.”

Petty said he knows from experience that “being in the training room sucks. When you’re in the training room, people see you there because they gotta stop through to get taped up, and then all of a sudden you’re a dude that’s in the training room all the time. And psychologically, that’s a lot to deal with. I dealt with that as a player. Early on I had mono, and everybody is at summer camp and I’m twirling a football on the sideline and they’re like, ‘Who’s this dude?’

“All of a sudden if you’re in the training room and you’re not out there [on the field], you really can’t establish yourself with any sort of credibility … So Xavier has had to deal with that, and I think one of the hardest things to do is deal with injuries and maintain your mental composure. He’s done that, and he finds himself in a position to contribute now.

“So I’m proud of him for working hard and dealing with the mental adversity that he’s going through and now being in position to be to do something. And that’s kind of where our conversations lie. This isn’t the last time. He’s going to be somewhere in life where he’s going to need to psychologically deal with the environment and the adversity, and to get through it he’s going to have to have the confidence that he pulled from this piece that he’s doing now.”

Brown, a media studies major, said he’s loved his UVA experience.

“I’ve met some amazing people that I’ve been able to network with and just build relationships with for the future,” he said. “It’s great all around, just the amount of people that are here to help and that want us to succeed.”

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