Cavalier Defense Looks to Build on Strong Foundation

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In 2025, the University of Virginia football team entered October averaging 45.6 points per game. As the caliber of opponents increased, the Cavaliers’ offense wasn’t able to sustain that level of productivity, and much was asked of their defense as the season progressed.

Defensive coordinator John Rudzinski’s group delivered.

Over the final eight games of a season in which UVA recorded a program-record 11 victories, its opponents averaged only 16.4 points. The Wahoos finished the season ranked second among ACC teams in scoring defense (19.6 ppg), third in fewest yards allowed per game (309.5), fourth in sacks (31) and fourth in interceptions (14).

Moreover, the Hoos had the nation’s second-best third-down defense.

Turnover is a constant in college sports, and Virginia lost such defensive stalwarts as Jahmeer Carter, Mitchell Melton, Daniel Rickert, Devin Neal, James Jackson, Jordan Robinson and Emmanuel Karnley. Still, there’s reason to believe Rudzinski’s latest defense can be as good as, if not better than, its immediate predecessor.

“Schematically, we'll be similar,” head coach Tony Elliott said, “but we'll be different because we've got different pieces that we're working with. So it may not look exactly the same, but I think from a core standpoint, we'll have the same DNA.”

Since the end of last season, UVA has added a host of talented transfers on defense: Matthew Fobbs-White (Baylor), Devon Baxter (Michigan), Nnanna Anyanwu (UTSA), Ezekiel Larry (Yale), Darrion Henry-Young (Coastal Carolina), Justin Townsend (Columbia), Kervins Choute (UConn), Jonathan Allen (UAB), Jacobie Henderson (Rutgers), Omillio Agard (Wisconsin), Justin Ross (Navy), Brandyn Hillman (Michigan), Christian Ellis (Virginia Tech), Patrick Campbell (Dartmouth), Jalen McNair (Buffalo) and Jaylen Jones (Georgia State).

They joined a strong core of returning defensive players, a group that includes ends Fisher Camac, Billy Koudelka and Jewett Hayes, tackles Jason Hammond, Anthony Britton and Sichan John, linebackers Kam Robinson, Maddox Marcellus, Landon Danley, Caleb Hardy and Myles Brown, and backs Jam Jackson, Ja’Maric Morris, Donavon Platt, Ethan Minter, Corey Costner, Montino Williams and Keke Adams.

“We've got a bunch of young men that love to work,” Rudzinski said, “and ultimately, if they'll put the work in, they'll put their hands in the right place, they'll be a tough group

Rudzinski’s goal is for UVA to have the nation’s top defense, “and that’s what we're striving for each and every day,” said Platt, who joined the program in 2025 after spending three years at Army.

For the defense to take another step forward this season, Hammond said, it’s important for its members to understand “that last year's over with. We don't have the same guys from last year. Even the guys that are still here, nothing is given, everything is earned. And the same teams that we played last year, those guys are also bringing in new guys and are new teams. So I think it starts from having a new mindset of re-establishing the mindset of the defense, how we're going to play, what's our identity.”

Robinson, Costner and Larry are recovering from injuries and have yet to be cleared for full contact in training camp, but the defensive staff has no shortage of options from which to choose. Morris and Jam Jackson, a starter for Virginia in 2024, are healthy again after missing last season, and the Cavaliers received a boost this month when defensive linemen Jacob Holmes and Cazeem Moore rejoined the program.

Holmes played in all 14 games for UVA last season and finished with 33 tackles, six of them for loss, including three sacks. Moore also played in every game and recorded three sacks.

Of the other returning players, Hammond started 14 games last season, Camac and Minter 13 each, Platt 10 and Robinson eight. An injury sidelined Robinson late in the year, meaning more playing time for Marcellus and Danley.

“It’s a violent position,” said Mike Adams, who coaches Virginia’s linebackers, “so there’s always going to be a third or fourth guy that’s got to go in there.”

The experience Marcellus and Danley gained in Robinson’s absence was “just tremendous,” Adams said.

Since taking over at UVA in December 2021, Elliott has preached the importance of having competitive depth at every position. That’s an elusive goal, but the Cavaliers are making progress on that front.

“I think it's probably the deepest roster we've had,” Elliott said. “When you go out there, you see the lines, like, they're a little bit longer. There's more guys that look like each other, so to speak.”

Platt said: “I think competitive depth is something that we've always strived for here, and we were able to do that this offseason, bringing in people who can really contribute and really play. Obviously, last year was my first year here, but in the past I've heard that it was more so like that first group was [strong], and after that the team was in trouble. So that's something that is definitely a part of our strength this year, to be able to have that many pieces that can go out there and uphold the standard. And it's just an amazing feeling.”

Case in point: the linebackers.

“We have all those guys rocking and rolling with more experience,” Elliott said. “We're faster at linebacker. We're longer. We're more athletic at linebacker. And that's not with Kam in there. So you throw Kam back in the mix, and now you've got a veteran group there that's going to give us a ton of depth and then some more versatility and flexibility in some of our different packages in certain down-and-distance situations. And then also on special teams, that's going to make an impact.

“We're bigger in the interior of the D-line, just collectively with all of the guys that we have that are over 300 pounds there. We're probably longer at defensive end collectively than we were last year. And then we're definitely faster on the back end. So I think physically, when you look at us, we're different and improved. Now the question is, collectively when it's time to go play do we have the chemistry, the communication, the cohesion to be able to go and execute at a high level like we did last year.”

Asked if the defense is deeper than in 2025, Rudzinski was noncommittal.

“Time will tell,” he said. “I think at the end, I'll have a better idea, but I know that we've got a lot of really good pieces. I think that it's been really, really competitive, not only for our 1s, but for our 2s, and then also the ability to mix the different pieces. And guys each days are playing in different roles and different positions. And so I think we've got great competitive depth, which will serve us really well throughout the season.”

On defense, the Cavaliers might be deepest in the secondary, where the transfers arrived with extensive starting experience and strong résumés.

“Our secondary is pretty freaking talented,” UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said.

Hillman, who grew up in Portsmouth, earned All-Big Ten honorable mention last season at Michigan.  Among the qualities that impressed Virginia’s coaches when they evaluated Hillman were his “physicality and then his ability, his range, his ability to get from sideline to sideline,” Rudzinski said. “And he's done a bunch of that in fall camp. He’s one of those safeties that those receivers and tight ends are like, ‘All right, where is he?’ They want to know, because he's going to come down and he's going to make sure he puts his face mask on you.”

On the field, Rudzinski said, Hillman’s intensity stands out. “He’s got a fire to him as a competitor. He wants to win every single rep. And frankly, he wants to go physically dominate the young man in front of him on the football field. And then at the same time he can flip that switch and be the nicest, politest young man that you could be around.”

Up front, Hammond and Britton are fourth-years who came to UVA out of high school. Kevin Downing, who coaches the defensive tackles, said he’s seen them “just progressively get better year in and year out. And the next level that you'd like to see them go is to become even more studious about the game and just masters of our defense.

“All signs point to that. They had a really good summer, they worked really hard, their bodies look good. We're big in that [defensive tackle] room, and I'm really looking forward to it. I think from a movement standpoint, we got a lot of really good movers in that room. So I'm really looking forward to watching these guys grow.”

Downing was able to rotate several players at tackle during games last season, reducing the workload on each player, and he expects to do the same again this year.

“So now you kind of wear on the offense as opposed to the offense wearing on you over the course of the game,” Elliott said.

For the defense, the biggest unknown is probably the pass rush. Rickert led the Hoos with 6.5 sacks last season, and Melton had five.

Of the returning Cavaliers, Camac had the most sacks last season, with 4.5. But the coaches are confident that capable replacements for Rickert and Melton will step forward.

The 6-foot-6, 244-pound Baxter is one of the more intriguing candidates. No. 99 has yet to play in a college game, but “the length, you can't coach that,” Elliott said. “The athleticism, you can't coach that ... He learns very quickly, and so each day you're seeing him get better with what we're asking him to do. So I'm really excited about his upside.”

Anyanwu, who’s listed at 6-foot-5, 251 pounds, had five sacks last season for UTSA. Fobbs-White started three games for Baylor in 2025, and Larry was named to the All-Ivy League first team after recorded 10.5 sacks for Yale.

“You go down that list, and there's a bunch of guys that are going to be productive this fall,” Rudzinski said. “Our objective is to get as many guys ready as we can. We're really fortunate. We had the opportunity to roll four guys [at end] last year, and the identity of what we want to do is to see how many guys we can play.

“At that spot, it's going to be critical to be able to put guys out there that will go be productive. What's fun now is we get to get a little bit more in our exotic packages, get to see what it looks like as far as our ability to put a package together and see if these guys can work together to get to the passer.”

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