Game Week Approaching for Hoos

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — With the start of a new season fast approaching, the University of Virginia football team is shifting its focus this week to its opening-day opponent.

The Cavaliers kick off their fifth season under head coach Tony Elliott with an Aug. 29 game against ACC foe NC State at Scott Stadium. UVA players started studying the Wolfpack early in the summer but took a break for training camp, which started late last month.

Amid the grind of camp, the opportunity to prepare for an actual game “makes it more exciting,” quarterback Beau Pribula said Monday at the Hardie Center, “and we’re just excited to get started on [NC State].”

Elliott came to UVA in December 2021 as a first-time head coach. Much has changed in his program and his approach since then.

“It's almost hard to remember the first camp,” Elliott said Monday after the Wahoos’ 15^th summer practice, “but I know that we've tweaked the practice schedule. We've done a lot more research internally with our sports performance team to see what the best model is, in terms of how many days in a row you practice before you take an off day. Also looking at the science behind how you ramp up your practices, coming off of an off day and then relative to the back end of the week.”

He also noted the impact of the Hardie Center, which opened in June 2024. “Being in this building has really helped,” Elliott said, “because now we can force the guys to be together longer, whereas in the first training camp we were kind of spread out, so we had to be creative. Now it just naturally, organically happens.

“Those are probably the biggest tweaks that we've made. I think we've progressed as a program from a depth standpoint to where now when we go out and scrimmage, we can structure the scrimmages a little bit different than maybe in years past.”

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— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 17, 2026

The Hoos, who are coming off a season in which they won a program-record 11 games, held their second and final scrimmage of training camp on Saturday at Scott Stadium.

“It was a great day for me, from a program standpoint,” Elliott said.

For the first time in his tenure, he said, the Cavaliers are deep enough for him to split the roster and evaluate rotation players in multiple situations. On Saturday, for example, Elliott was able to see how reserve defensive tackle Sichan John fared against starting offensive guard Makilan Thomas.

In the past, Elliott said, “we just didn't have the depth to be able to break it up that way. Or if we did that, we wouldn't get out of it what we desired to get out of it. It wouldn't have been as competitive because there was a drop off. So that was a big day for me.”

Overall, he said, “I thought procedurally the team took a big step. I thought it was competitive from start to finish, and it was a long day. We were out there for a while. I thought the guys were into it. I thought they had great energy. So I think from scrimmage one to scrimmage two, I saw the intentionality improve, which they were challenged to do that. I saw the procedural execution improve. It was competitive. We got to mix it up:1s on 2s, 2s on 1s for some different segments.

“There was good on both sides. There was points scored. There was some turnovers forced by the defense. So from a head coach's perspective, I thought it was a very, very productive day in our progression towards getting ready for NC State. I think some of the coaches might disagree with that. Their position group may not have won the day, which every coach wants to do. But from my perspective, I want it to be competitive. I want it to be clean. I want to see guys be challenged and respond. And I think we got all of that on Saturday.”

WAITING GAME: Kam Robinson’s workload in practice continues to increase, and the junior linebacker, who’s recovering from a torn ACL, might be available for the opener, Elliott said Monday, though it’s too early to say for sure.

Two other defensive players who were on UVA’s two-deep in 2025—linemen Jacob Holmes and Cazeem Moore—continue to practice while awaiting word from the NCAA on their eligibility for the coming season.

A recent court ruling allowed Holmes and Moore to rejoin the team, and now UVA is “just waiting on the guidance from the administration and the NCAA as to what they can do in terms of competition on Saturday the 29^th,” Elliott said. “But right now we're getting them prepared.”

Holmes and Moore returned to Grounds this month in “as good a shape as can be expected from the situation that they came out of,” Elliott said. “They're getting better every single day. Now they're through their acclimatization period. So the next time we're in full pads, they can go full pads, which will be a good step for them.”

Also Monday, Elliott said that offensive lineman Kevin Wigenton II’s appeal for another season of eligibility had been denied. Wigenton played for Virginia in 2025 after joining the program as a graduate transfer from Illinois.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS: UVA tailbacks ran the ball 446 times last season, with All-ACC selection J’Mari Taylor carrying on 222 of those plays.

The carries are likely to be distributed more evenly this season. The Cavaliers have six tailbacks on scholarship—Jekail Middlebrook, Noah Vaughn, Xavier Brown, Peyton Lewis, Solomon Beebe and Xay Davis—and “you need multiple guys that can carry the load,” Elliott said.

This is Keith Gaither’s fifth year as running backs coach at UVA, and “this is the most competitive depth I’ve had here,” he said. “I think I got six guys that we can win football games with.”

Middlebrook, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, continues to top the depth chart, but the other five have produced highlights in training camp, too. “I expect to play all of them, if they're healthy,” Gaither said, “and they're playing on a ton of special teams.”

In practice, Gaither said, he rotates tailbacks on the first-team offense, “so they're getting a chance to run behind the best O-line, catch balls from the best quarterback. And it's going well. And now it’s just finding out what skill set they have that matches the game plan and then putting them in a position where they can be successful plus help us win.”

Brown said: “I really believe that with the six of us, there’s no drop off. Each and every one of us have experience playing, and each and every one of us can provide a different aspect to the game when we're in there. We're going to be really deep this year. I think we're going to be able to rotate a lot and we're going to be able to stay fresh.”

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— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 17, 2026

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME: Most of the transfers who joined the program this year enrolled at UVA in January. The exceptions included three former Ivy League standouts: defensive back Patrick Campbell (Dartmouth) and defensive linemen Justin Townsend (Columbia) and Ezekiel Larry (Yale), all of whom who arrived on Grounds after the spring semester ended.

Larry is recovering from an injury and has yet to practice with the Cavaliers, but Campbell and Townsend have impressed this summer.

Campbell "has already shown tremendous value as a special teams guy,” Elliott said, “and he's pushing to be in the rotation [in the secondary]. So he's picked it up very, very quickly and done a really good job. And same thing with JT. JT brings a motor similar to a [Daniel] Rickert. So he's another guy that's in the conversation to be a rotational guy for us.”

Larry, who led the Ivy League with 10.5 sacks last season, is ahead of schedule in his recovery, Elliott said, “so we're hopeful that by the end of September, we can have him back rolling.”

Elliott has coached other graduate transfers from the Ivy League, including tight end Tyler Neville (Harvard) and defensive end Paul Akere (Columbia), and said he’s found that “those guys typically come in a little bit more mature.”

They’ve had to balance football with rigorous academics, “so they understand it,” Elliott said. “They’re prepared, and now this is more a chance for them to [focus more] on football. They’re still going to school, but this is their chance to really lock into the game.”

IMMEDIATE IMPACT: If there’s a Cavalier defensive player who’s received the most praise this summer, it’s probably safety Brandyn Hillman, who earned All-Big Ten honorable mention at Michigan last season.

Hillman, who grew up in Portsmouth, is a 6-foot, 190-pound senior who wears jersey No. 6 and plays with palpable intensity.

Asked which defensive backs stood out in the second scrimmage, Elliott named Campbell, Justin Ross and Keke Adams and added, “I could always say Brandyn Hillman, because he's always going to do something that's going to flash. But that's almost the norm. It's like, ‘All right, you know B. Hill's going to show up. Now let's quit watching him.’ ”

Elliott said Kam Robinson has the same effect on observers.

“The problem with Kam is when Kam's out there, you just want to watch Kam ... [and] you don't see some of the other players,” Elliott said. “So that's kind of like how Hillman is. Hillman's a lot like Kam. You'll be over here, and that 6 will just go screaming that way, and you just follow the 6. But I was able to see those other guys in the scrimmage.”

SPECIAL OPERATIONS: Candidates to return kickoffs for Virginia this season include Solomon Beebe, Da’Shawn Martin, Jacquon Gibson, Noah Vaughn and Peyton Lewis.

Beebe and Martin starred as return specialists at UAB and Kent State, respectively, and the others are explosive players, too, “so I feel really good about the kick return situation,” said Keith Gaither, who oversees the Cavaliers’ special teams.

Virginia lost a dynamic returner in Cam Ross, who’s now pursuing an NFL career, but “I think these guys won't miss a beat,” Gaither said.

There’s more uncertainty at punt-returner, Gaither said, where the options include Martin, Gibson, Josiah Abdullah and Kameron Courtney. “Nobody's solidified that position at this point,” Gaither said, “but we're steadily getting better.”

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