Spring Football Finale Next for HoosSpring Football Finale Next for Hoos
Joe Main

Spring Football Finale Next for Hoos

Admission is free Saturday at Scott Stadium, where gates open at 2:30 p.m. The Blue-White game starts at 3:30 p.m.

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The football team that went through 15 practices at the University of Virginia last spring looked significantly different by the start of the training camp in August.

Not only did 16 freshmen join the program last summer, the Cavaliers added 13 transfers after the portal re-opened last April: seven defensive backs, three offensive linemen, one tailback, one defensive lineman and one tight end.

Fans who attend the Blue-White spring game Saturday afternoon at Scott Stadium will get a better read on what the Wahoos will look like in the fall. There’s no longer a spring portal, which means Virginia’s roster won’t undergo many changes between now and the Aug. 29 season opener against NC State in Brazil.

Twenty-seven of the 29 transfers UVA picked up in the portal this year are already on Grounds and taking part in spring practice. The exceptions are defensive back Patrick Campbell and defensive end Ezekiel Larry, who are completing their undergraduate work this spring at Dartmouth and Yale, respectively.

As the Hoos wrap up spring ball, “you definitely don't have the questions in the secondary like you did last year,” head coach Tony Elliott said Thursday night at the Hardie Center.

Admission is free Saturday at Scott Stadium, where gates open at 2:30 p.m. The game starts at 3:30 p.m.

Teams are allowed only three scrimmages in the spring, and Elliott said he’s eager see how a couple of position groups perform in the Saturday finale. “But for the most part,” he said, “you feel like you have a better idea of what you’ve got to work with as you get ready to prepare for the summer, as opposed to that uncertainty of knowing that you’ve got to bring in six guys on the back end.”

Formats of spring games often change, due to the availability of players and other factors. Elliott typically divides his roster into two teams that play a traditional game. This year, the game will pit the offense, in white, against the defense, which will wear blue jerseys.

Linebackers coach Mike Adams is overseeing the defense, and quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb is in charge of the offense.

The quarterbacks will be off-limits to tacklers, but otherwise it will be a live scrimmage, Elliott said. The first-team offense will face the first-team defense, to be followed by the second-team units and, later, the third-team groups.

“We’re trying to simulate a game as much as possible,” Elliott said Thursday night after the 14th of his team’s 15 spring practices.

The scoring system for the offense will be standard: six points for a touchdown, three points for a field goal, one point for a PAT. On the other side of the ball, the defense will be awarded six points for forcing a turnover, three points for forcing a three-and-out, and one point for forcing a punt.

“So we're still going to make it very competitive,” Elliott said, “but it's just a little bit different format than what we've done in years past.

Eli Holstein (10)Eli Holstein (10)

The Cavaliers, who are in their fifth year under Elliott, are coming off a season in which they finished 11-3 after defeating Missouri in the Gator Bowl. From that UVA team, numerous offensive linemen are back this year, including Noah Josey, McKale Boley, Drake Metcalf, Makilan Thomas, Monroe Mills, Ben York, Jon Adair and Grant Ellinger.

That’s one of the reasons quarterback Eli Holstein (Pittsburgh) and tailback Jekail Middlebrook (Middle Tennessee State), among others, chose UVA after entering the transfer portal in January.

“I knew that the majority of the O-line was coming back,” said Middlebook, who rushed for 752 yards and four touchdowns at MTSU last season.

“Obviously, one of the big selling points was the offensive line,” Holstein said. “[Having] an offensive line like that that's going to be able to protect you is definitely something I want to be a part of.”

Holstein, who began his college career at Alabama, is competing for playing time with Beau Pribula, a graduate transfer from Missouri, and Cole Geer, who played in two games as a UVA true freshman last season.

Also in the quarterback room are true freshmen Ely Hamrick and Jae’Oyn Williams and walk-on Boone Lourd, but they’ve taken fewer snaps this spring.

“It’s hard to rep six [quarterbacks],” Elliott said, “but I thought we did a really good job with [Pribula, Holstein and Geer] of distributing the reps, giving them legitimate opportunity to compete for the job as we've gone through the first 14 practices. And then Saturday will be big, and then really between now and the time that we all get back together in August will be really, really critical for those kids.

“But I thought the staff did a really good job of giving each one of them an opportunity to run with different groups [on] offense. And I think it's important, too, to see how they respond when maybe they're not out there with the first unit. And that's something that we're looking at and we're evaluating, because again, at quarterback, you got to have competitive stamina, mental toughness, and really It's not always going to be pretty in front of you. You got to be able to go out there and function with different groups of offensive linemen, different groups of backs, different groups of receivers and tight ends.”

Newcomers abound in the wide receiver and running back rooms. At receiver, true freshman Dylan Cope and transfers Rico Flores Jr. (UCLA), Da’Shawn Martin (Kent State), Jacquon Gibson (UMass) and Tyson Davis (Central Michigan) have joined such holdovers as Kameron Courtney, TyLyric Coleman, Dillon Newton-Short, Josiah Abdullah and Isaiah Robinson.

“Really excited about what the transfers brought in,” Elliott said. “I think Rico is very, very steady, and he's probably going to be a lot like [former UVA wideout Jayden Thomas] in that he can play all three positions and give us really, really good production at each of those positions.”

Martin is “dynamic, so I think he's got an opportunity,” Elliott said. “And then Jacquon has been probably the most steady and consistent of those guys. So I think with the three additions, you’ve got some really good raw material to work with.”

Jekail Middlebrook (21)Jekail Middlebrook (21)

At tailback, Middlebrook is one of three transfers, along with Peyton Lewis (Tennessee) and Solomon Beebe (UAB). Returners at that position include Noah Vaughn, Xay Davis and Xavier Brown, who’s recovering from a torn ACL.

“I'm excited about what we have,” Elliott said. “Still not a big enough sample size yet for anybody to separate, but I think we're a deeper running back room with more versatility than what we've had in the past. And we don't have X out there yet. So X will be coming back into that mix, and I think you’ve got a combination of some size and some power. You’ve got some speed, some elusiveness.”

Virginia’s leading rusher in 2025 was All-ACC tailback J’Mari Taylor, who’s been training for this month’s NFL draft. Taylor ran for 1,062 yards and 14 touchdowns last season.

Elliott said he’s unsure which tailbacks, if any, will separate themselves from the group “like J’Mari did last year. But overall, I think it's a deeper, more competitive group, probably the deepest and most competitive group that we've had since we've been here as a staff.”

Injuries at several positions, especially linebacker, have left the Cavaliers without a full complement of players this spring. Even so, it’s a been productive period, Elliott said, and he’s eager to observe and assess his team Saturday.

“What's their demeanor in the stadium when you’ve got game simulation?” Elliott said. “Because, again, we don't get many opportunities to see that before it's for real. So I want to evaluate: Are the lights going to be too bright, or do they feel right at home?

“I think I know that about some guys, but there's a lot of guys I've never been in that situation. So that's what I'm looking for. I want to see competition. I'd love to see a great turnout from a fan standpoint to help us create that atmosphere. I want to see guys having fun. I want to see how guys respond to the intensity of game-type coaching. And how do we function together? How do we communicate? All those little things that are hard to recreate on the practice field because of the pace at which we practice. When you go in the stadium, now you can add in these other circumstances, and I want to see how they respond.”

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