Gaines Sets Example for Teammates to Follow

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — As the grand opening of the Molly and Robert Hardie Football Operations Center approached last spring, Tony Elliott was asked to select a player to represent the program and address an audience that would include many VIPs. The University of Virginia’s third-year head coach chose defensive back Elijah Gaines.

“It was a huge honor,” Gaines recalled this week.

In introducing Gaines that evening, Elliott called him “the definition of a Virginia man and a Virginia football player,” and Gaines handled his assignment with aplomb. That didn’t surprise anyone who knows him.

Other players at UVA might have had a bigger impact on the field, but Gaines’ value to the program has been immense, Elliott reiterated this week.

“He represents what it is to be the model student-athlete, and that’s why I picked Elijah, because of the way he carries himself, the way he represents us,” Elliott said. “He’s a great team guy. It’s all about his teammates. He embraces his role, even though he probably would like it for it to be a little more high-profile.”

Gaines, who’s from the Ozone Park neighborhood in Queens, N.Y., will be one of the 41 players honored Saturday at Scott Stadium in a Senior Day ceremony before UVA’s home finale. He’s in his fifth year at the University. As an undergraduate, he carried a double major (media studies/African American and African studies) and earned his bachelor’s degree in three-and-a-half years, and he’s on track to receive a master’s in higher education in the spring.

Along the way, he’s been extraordinarily active on Grounds and in the Charlottesville community. He’s volunteered with such organizations as the Ronald McDonald House, Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, UVA Campus Cleanup and Colby’s Crew Rescue, and he’s a former president of Black Student-Athletes Offering Service and Support (B.O.S.S.). In 2022, Gaines attended the Black Student-Athlete Summit, and in 2023 he was one of UVA’s representatives on the ACC Unity Tour in Washington, D.C.

More recently, Gaines and director of athletics Carla Wiliams were named UVA’s recipients of the 2024 ACC Unite Award. That’s awarded annually to individuals affiliated with the conference “who promote and encourage racial equity and social justice through education, partnerships, engagement and advocacy,” the ACC said.

Gaines has “taken full advantage of his opportunities,” Elliott said. “And that’s what you would wish for every young man while they’re here, that they maximize every resource available, every opportunity, and not just focus solely on football.

“Football is important. It’s going to take the most time. But if they’re intentional, they can come away with an unbelievable experience. They can also have a great impact while they’re here. But more importantly, they’re preparing themselves for what’s next to make an even greater impact once they walk away from Grounds.”

Gaines said he feels like he’s “squeezed everything I could have out of UVA in terms of meeting people, the experiences, being part of clubs. I feel like I’ve done everything I could have done to maximize my opportunity here. And even this upcoming spring, my last semester here at UVA, I’m still gonna try to maximize and do even more. I’m extremely grateful for everything that I’ve been able to do here at UVA.”

His parents were Division I student-athletes at St. John’s University in New York—his mom in track & field, his father in football—and they instilled in Gaines a passion for learning. After his freshman year at Francis Lewis High, a public school in Queens, Gaines transferred to Episcopal High School in Alexandria.

He’d looked at several other boarding schools, but “Episcopal was ultimately the first and the only one I really went to in person and got to see and tour on my own,” Gaines recalled. “And when I set foot there, I was like, ‘Yeah, I gotta go here. I love this place.’ It was something totally different, me being a city kid. Me being from New York, all I know is the concrete jungle. And then going somewhere like Episcopal in Alexandria, Virginia, it was just a totally different community, just a different switch. So I was fortunate to go there, meet a bunch of different people, meet some of my best friends.”

He starred at safety and wide receiver for Episcopal and committed to UVA in December 2019. Gaines arrived on Grounds the next summer as part of a recruiting class that included wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., and they immediately became inseparable.

“That was my guy,” Gaines said.

In January 2021, defensive end Chico Bennett Jr. transferred from Georgia Tech to UVA, and Davis and Gaines grew close with him. “We would always be together,” Gaines said, “just kicking it with each other. If you saw Lavel, you’d see Chico. If you saw Chico, you’d see Lavel, and you’d see me. You’d always see us three together.”

Davis’ life was tragically cut short on Nov. 13, 2022, when he and teammates Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry were shot and killed by a fellow UVA student after returning to Grounds from a class field trip. Gaines was one of the players who spoke at the memorial service held for Davis, Chandler and Perry later that month at John Paul Jones Arena.

Two years later, Gaines said, he and Bennett still talk regularly about Davis. “We’ll reminisce on certain things and say, ‘Lavel would have done this’ or ‘Lavel would have been laughing at us for that.’ ”

Gaines, who wears jersey No. 22, has primarily played special teams for the Cavaliers.

“When I look back on it all, I’m grateful for everything that’s happened,” he said. “When I first came in, I was like, ‘I want to be one of those high-profile guys that plays a lot, that does a lot, that contributes a lot.’ I haven’t really been the biggest contributor defensively, I’ve been more of a special teams guy, but I don’t look back on it and really regret anything.

“I feel like I’ve given my all. There’s definitely some things I could have changed and I could have done better to boost my playing time. But ultimately I think everything happens for a reason and the way that things played out, played out [well] for me. I was able to come back for a fifth year to be part of the team and represent the team, and I think there’s different roles that people have on the team. I’ve embraced my role and I’ve accepted my role. I’m very grateful for the role that I have, being on the team and being that person that people could look up to and be like, ‘He’s a leader.’ ”

His final game at Scott Stadium is almost here. At noon Saturday, UVA (5-5 overall, 3-3 ACC) hosts No. 13 SMU (9-1, 6-0). It promises to be a bittersweet occasion for Gaines, who’ll have a sizable cheering section of family and friends in the stands.

“It’s Senior Day, and I’m getting recognized,” Gaines said, “but then it’s like, ‘Damn, it’s the last time I’ll ever be able to suit up and say I’m a UVA football player here in Scott Stadium.’ But I’m looking forward to it nonetheless.”

Gaines isn’t sure what he’ll do after completing work on his master’s degree. “I’m still trying to figure that out right now,” he said. “I’ve been talking to a couple of different alums, a couple different people, just trying to network and kind of get a sense of what career path I want to take. “

Elliott believes Gaines’ potential is unlimited.

“He could be the president,” Elliott said. “He could be whatever he wants to be, to be honest with you. I would imagine that he’ll probably be in a situation where he’s impacting people, because with a young man like him, with all the things that we’re praising him about, the only way you do that is because you have an extreme passion to help other people. So I can see him working in politics, making a change. I can see him being in corporate America in a high-management seat. I can see this guy being a CEO. He can be anything he wants to be.”

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