New Cast of Playmakers Emerging for Hoos

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In 2025, kicker Will Bettridge led the University of Virginia football team in scoring for the third straight year and set a single-season program record by making 24 field goals.

Bettridge is back for a fifth year at UVA, and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings is happy he’s still in the program. But Kitchings hopes Bettridge won’t be called upon to kick field goals as often this fall.

In 2025, when the Wahoos finished 11-3, they came away with points on 53 of their 64 trips to the red zone, a solid 82.8%. But they had to settle for Bettridge field goals on 17 of those red-zone possessions.

“So we’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on that,” Kitchings said Monday night at the Hardie Center, “because we believe we've got to take another step in that area and score more touchdowns down there as opposed to kicking field goals.”

From an offense that scored 47 touchdowns last season, gone are such playmakers as tailbacks J’Mari Taylor and Harrison Waylee, wide receivers Trell Harris, Cam Ross and Eli Wood, tight end Sage Ennis and, at least for now, quarterback Chandler Morris.

There’s considerably more experience and returning talent on the offensive line, perhaps the Cavaliers’ strongest position group. Among those back up front are starters McKale Boley, Noah Josey and Drake Metcalf and promising reserves Ben York, Jon Adair and Grant Ellinger, as well as two highly regarded veterans who missed the 2025 season while recovering from injuries: Monroe Mills and Makilan Thomas.

“It’s comforting to know that’s a good starting point for us,” Kitchings said.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

The H.E.A.R.T. EP. 1 - Offensive Line#GoHoos 🔶⚔️🔷 pic.twitter.com/K0wVIyBTVp

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) March 30, 2026

The Cavaliers, who are in their fifth year under head coach Tony Elliott, started spring practice two weeks ago. In addition to the returning players from last season, UVA’s roster includes 34 newcomers (27 transfers and seven true freshmen) who arrived on Grounds in January.

For returning players looking for bigger roles, the spring is an opportunity to impress the coaching staff. On offense, those players include receiver Kameron Courtney and tailback Noah Vaughn.

Courtney, a rising junior from Manassas, played in all 14 games last season and caught 25 passes for 234 yards. He also carried four times for 38 yards and a touchdown.

Vaughn, who’ll be a redshirt junior in the fall, appeared in only four games in 2025. He rushed for a career-high 101 yards on eight carries against William & Mary on Sept. 13, but he suffered a high-ankle sprain in that game and never fully recovered.

“It was really humbling for me,” Vaughn, who averaged 7.6 yards per carry in 2025, said Monday after Virginia’s practice.

“I felt like last year was supposed to be my year. So finally getting that breakout game to where I feel comfortable on the field [and then] going down with that injury, it really made me [understand] how much I love this. It took everything to try to come back that same season and although I couldn't successfully do it, I love this team.”

Vaughn, who’s from Maryville, Tenn., rehabbed diligently and returned on Nov. 11 for Virginia’s game at Cal. His ankle didn’t hold up in that game, however, and he missed the rest of the season.

“Sometimes things just don't go your way,” he said. “I was humbled to be in that position, but I also learned a lot about myself, about the team, and I look forward to being healthy this year at the ACC championship.”

Running backs coach Keith Gaither has a full room. Xavier Brown, who rushed for 241 yards last season, is recovering from a knee injury, but Vaughan and Xay Davis, who impressed in UVA’s Gator Bowl win over Missouri, are practicing this spring, as are three transfers: Jekail Middlebrook (Middle Tennessee State), Solomon Beebe (UAB) and Peyton Lewis (Tennessee).

The group is as competitive as it is close-knit, Vaughn said, “and we’re all trying to create separation between ourselves to show that we can be that bell cow guy, to be that guy that Coach can count on.

“We're all just going to show up every day and do what we can to separate ourselves. I feel like it’s a great dynamic. By the end of it, [even if] it doesn't go someone's way, you're going to be the best version of yourself. And I feel like that's the kind of culture we're trying to foster in this room.”

Taylor, an All-ACC selection, carried 222 times last season, by far the most of any Cavalier. It’s too early to tell, Kitchings said, how the carries will be distributed this year.

Lewis and Davis are powerful backs. Vaughn, Middlebrook, Beebe and Brown are more slashing runners.

“So feel like we can come at the defenses [in multiple ways],” Kitchings said, “having a rotation where we can kind of pound upon them, then get a speed guy [in who] may get on the edge and go for 60 [yards].”

Offensively, Kitching said, “it’s all going to start with the run game for us.” He knows, however, that the Hoos will need a productive passing game, too.

At quarterback, transfers Beau Pribula and Eli Holstein are getting plenty of reps, as is Cole Geer, who played in two games as a UVA true freshman last season.

The QBs’ targets at wide receiver include transfers Rico Flores Jr. (UCLA), Da’Shawn Martin (Kent State), Jacquon Gibson (UMass) and Tyson Davis (Central Michigan) and returners Courtney, TyLyric Coleman, Dillon Newton-Short, Isaiah Robinson and Josiah Abdullah.

“Each of them bring something different,” Kitchings said. “But collectively, what we need from that group is just be a tough, gritty group that plays clean football [and can] make the routine plays, but also make those contested plays for us as well.”

Mark your calendars‼️

🔵&⚪️ Spring Game to be held on Saturday, April 18#GoHoos 🔶⚔️🔷 pic.twitter.com/DhUBrc6935

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) February 14, 2026

Courtney, the most productive of the Hoos’ returning wideouts, entered the transfer portal after the 2025 season but later withdrew.

“I only live about an hour and a half away from here, so it was a big thing for me to play for my home state and represent Virginia,” he said Monday night.

Courtney had a season-high six receptions (for 50 yards) in UVA’s win over Virginia Tech at Scott Stadium in November. This year, Kitchings said, he wants to see not only “the flashes, but the consistency [from Courtney]. He should relish this opportunity to kind of be the guy. And everybody's getting that opportunity so that it's not just a flash—a couple plays here, a couple plays there—it’s building the consistency throughout the reps, whether it's in the run game or the passing game. He builds his confidence, we build our confidence in him, and he becomes a guy that we can rely on not just on first or second downs, but third downs as well.”

Courtney has also shown promise on special teams. He returned three punts (for 19 yards) last season and had a 38-yard kickoff return against William & Mary. He’d like to feature prominently in the return game as well as at wideout this fall.

“This is definitely a big spring for me,” Courtney said. “The biggest thing for me is, I'd probably say, staying consistent.”

Now an upperclassman in the program, Courtney said he’s taking on a leadership role, “being able to show all the new guys like what to do, the ins and outs and everything.”

On the field, Courtney said, he’s focused on displaying his explosiveness and ability to gain separation on defenders.

“I feel like everybody can catch wide-open [passes] and run regular routes,” he said, “but being explosive, being able to get open and create that separation, I feel like can separate me from a lot of other people.”

He’s heading into his third year in Kitchings’ offense, and that “gives me total confidence, 100%,” Courtney said, “because I remember, just thinking back to my freshman year, everything was moving fast. Now it’s kind of like the game has slowed down and I can control the tempo—speed up, slow down, whatever I want to. So that gives me a lot of confidence to do what I need to do.”

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