The thing that excites me about the 2026 UVA Football roster is the depth in three key areas – quarterback, the offensive line and at tailback.
Beginning at the QB position, I’m not sure why it was considered to be breaking news that Tony Elliott is going with Beau Pribula as his QB1; Pribula, the starter at Missouri last season, didn’t commit to Virginia with one year of eligibility remaining to have to compete for a starting job.
Elliott made this not exactly stunning announcement on Wednesday at the ACC Kickoff; in other news, water is wet.
As important as that Pribula is going to start the Aug. 29 opener with NC State is, his backup, Eli Holstein, has 13 career starts, 3,309 career passing yards, 29 career passing touchdowns.
As good as Chandler Morris was last year, when he went down in the second quarter of the November game with Wake Forest, the backup, Daniel Kaelin, had only done limited work in mop-up duty to that point in his young career, and it showed in the 16-9 loss, in which he lost two fumbles, leading to two Demon Deacon field goals.
QB room: 2026
- Beau Pribula (Missouri): completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,941 yards, 11 TDs and nine INTs, with 434 sack-adjusted yards on the ground – 244 yards on designed runs, 190 yards on scrambles.
- Eli Holstein (Pitt): over two seasons, completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 3,309 yards, 29 TDs and 13 INTs, with 576 sack-adjusted yards on the ground – 198 yards on designed runs, 378 yards on scrambles.
- Cole Geer: a sophomore, Geer was a four-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in Massachusetts.
- Ely Hamrick: a freshman, Hamrick was a three-star recruit who threw for 2,457 yards with 30 touchdowns and only five interceptions and rushed for 651 yards and added 16 rushing touchdowns as a senior in 2025.
- Boone Lourd: a junior, Lourd was a three-star recruit who totaled 5,832 career passing yards at Brentwood and 78 TDs and completed 63.8 percent of his passes in high school.
- Jae’Oyn Williams: a freshman, Williams was a three-star recruit at tailback who got reps at QB in the spring.
Elliott on Beau Pribula:
“He’s a dynamic athlete that has a lot of confidence extending plays. I thought he did a solid job, too, of sitting in there and trying to trying to find his progression and driving the ball when he needed to. That’s the area where we’re just going to continue to help him evolve and develop. Because we know that he can run, we know that he likes to run, and we know that he’s a dynamic guy that has a ton of confidence in doing it. But I think also, too, in spring practice, he needs to be able to do it a little bit without getting hit. So, you teeter on, OK, how much do you make him sit in there? You don’t want to take away what makes him great, so you got to let him play his game.”
Elliott on Eli Holstein:
“He’s got a laid-back demeanor around the building, but when he gets out on the practice field, you can see that he’s got some fire to him. He’s got a poise about him that you can tell that he’s got experience as a starter. Him and Beau (Pribula) are both trying to figure out the system, and each one has their own style, but they’re both trying to lead the best that they can. He’s got a nickname, which is good.
“He’s already got a nickname from his teammates, which tells you that he’s fitting in, fitting in well. It’s been pleasant to be around those guys. You never know how those guys are going to come in, but he’s come in very humble, right? Goes to work, loves the weight room, he loves the weight room, and I think that goes a long way with his teammates, when your quarterback loves the weight room. So, he’s been fun to be around.
“He’s got a little bit of a personality too, so you can joke with him a little bit. Can make all the throws. He’s more of a pocket guy, but I did see some instances where he pulled it down and took off, and he can move for a big guy.”
Elliott on the battle for the QB3 spot:
“Cole, he’s right there in the mix with those guys. A little bit tougher for Jae’Oyn and Ely, just because they’re, and Boone, because if you got six of them, it’s hard to rep six of them. But I thought we did a really good job with all those guys of distributing the reps, giving them legitimate opportunity to compete for the job.”
Offensive line
The added depth on the offensive line is also a plus for the 2026 team – think back to last season, all the way back to the spring, when the projected starter at left tackle, Monroe Mills, was lost for the season with a torn ACL, then the group lost right tackle Makilan Thomas in the summer with a broken foot.
By the time center Brady Wilson had to miss three midseason games, necessitating the move of Drake Metcalf over from right guard, offensive coordinator Des Kitchings was reduced to having to simplify his game plans down the stretch, just to make sure that he could get through games.
If you want to know why the dynamic offense that we saw in the first half of the season was less than that in November, well.
O line room: 2026
- G Noah Josey (Virginia): 983 snaps, 12 pressures/zero sacks allowed.
- G/C Drake Metcalf (Virginia): 911 snaps, 17 pressures/one sack allowed.
- T McKale Boley (Virginia): 856 snaps, 11 pressures/two sacks allowed.
- T Makilan Thomas (Arkansas State, 2024): 650 snaps, 15 pressures/three sacks allowed.
- T Monroe Mills (Louisville, 2024): 566 snaps, seven pressures/one sack allowed.
- T Ben York (Virginia): 262 snaps, 11 pressures/ two sacks allowed.
- G/C Noah Hartsoe (Virginia): 65 snaps in 2025.
- T Jon Adair (Virginia): 51 snaps in 2025.
- G Grant Ellinger (Virginia): 45 snaps in 2025.
- T Ryan Brubaker (South Carolina): 39 snaps in two seasons (2024, 2025).
- T Alex Payne (Southern Cal): four-star recruit; redshirted in 2025.
Tailback
The other big issue was injuries in the backfield, which are going to happen – running backs are getting hit low on carries, running pass routes out of the backfield or out of the slot, or having to block edge rushers, on every snap.
The Virginia unit lost Noah Vaughn early, then had Xavier Brown go down with a torn ACL in October, and All-ACC tailback J’Mari Taylor gutted out the last few weeks before skipping the Gator Bowl, which Kitchings ended up having to play with Harrison Waylee, who started the season fourth on the depth chart, and guys further down the depth chart in Xay Davis and Davis Lane, doing the heavy lifting.
Tailback room: 2026
- Jekail Middlebrook (Middle Tennessee): 750 rushing yards, 5.4 yards/attempt, four TDs, two fumbles, 40 catches/60 targets, 412 yards.
- Peyton Lewis (Tennessee): 630 yards and 10 TDs in two seasons, averaging 4.7 yards/attempt.
- Solomon Beebe (UAB): 338 rushing yards, six TDs, 31 catches/38 targets, 284 yards.
- Xavier Brown (Virginia):241 rushing yards, 4.7 yards/attempt, one TD.
- Noah Vaughn (Virginia):174 rushing yards, 7.6 yards/attempt.
- Xay Davis (Virginia):41 yards on 12 attempts in the 13-7 win over Missouri in the Gator Bowl.
Elliott on his tailbacks:
“You got some speed, some elusiveness, and I think even with the guys that may not be power guys, they run down behind their pads,” said Elliott, who wants to run the ball, and have the passing game work off the run, drawing defenses in to set up play-action and deep shots.
Virginia ranked fourth in the ACC in rushing in 2025 (178.7 yards per game), a big step forward from 2024 (12th in the ACC, 131.9 yards per game) – Elliott’s first two UVA teams ranked 11th (123.1 yards per game) and 13th (117.9 yards per game) in the conference, back when the ACC was still a 14-team league.
The offensive scheme from Elliott and Kitchings asks a lot of the tailbacks, who have to be able to run the ball, aid in pass-blocking, and run routes out of the backfield and occasionally line up in the slot.
The guy who looks like he could be this year’s J’Mari Taylor (1,062 rushing yards, 14 TDs; 43 catches/54 targets, 251 yards, one TD) is Jekail Middlebrook, a transfer from Middle Tennessee, who had 750 yards rushing and 40 catches out of the backfield in 2025.
“What he’s showed me is that he can play in every situation. He can be an every-down back,” Elliott said. “He’ll get down behind his pads. He’s tough for his size. He falls forward, he understands football. Really good demeanor. He’s consistent every day. He’s the same dude every single day.”
Elliott is also big on Peyton Lewis, who didn’t get much run at Tennessee, but was a four-star recruit coming out high school at Salem.
“I think as Peyton takes more reps, he’s probably, well, I’m not going to say probably, he is the complete package in the room, right?” Elliott said. “When you look at his size, his speed, and what impressed me about him was his feet and vision for a bigger guy. I mean, he’s a big back, a bigger guy, and we all know he’s got documented straight line speed. But what I didn’t know was his eye-feet coordination, the ability to find the creases, and he showed me that. Now, we’ve just got to get him back. continue to help him build his confidence, not that he lacks confidence, it’s just, it’s new, right?”
Wideous/tight ends: Work in progress
This is the position group that we don’t know much about.
Elliott lost the top three receivers from the 2025 team – we knew going into the offseason that we’d be without Cam Ross (53 catches/79 targets, 543 yards), a sixth-year senior – but the losses of Trell Harris (59 catches/82 targets, 847 yards) and Jahmal Edrine (46 catches/72 targets, 564 yards) were surprises.
Harris ended up putting his name into the transfer portal, and ended up at Oklahoma.
Edrine decided to stay for a second season at Virginia, but was indicted on rape and abduction charges in February, and is no longer in the program.
Wideouts/tight ends room: 2026
- WR Jacquon Gibson (UMass): 63 catches/95 targets, 616 yards, 9.8 yards/catch.
- WR Da’Shawn Martin (Kent State): 33 catches/48 targets, 507 yards, 15.4 yards/catch, four TDs in 2025.
- WR Rico Flores Jr. (UCLA): 26 catches/37 targets, 274 yards, 10.5 yards/catch.
- WR Tyson Davis (Central Michigan): 25 catches/33 targets, 323 yards, 12.9 yards/catch, two TDs.
- WR Kam Courtney (Virginia): 25 catches/37 targets, 234 yards, 9.4 yards/catch.
- TE Dakota Twitty (Virginia): 11 catches/18 targets, 129 yards, 11.7 yards/catch.
- TE John Rogers (Virginia): 9 catches/12 targets, 101 yards, 11.2 yards/catch.
- TE Connor Cox (North Carolina): 5 catches/5 targets, 21 yards, 4.2 yards/catch.
- TE Lukas Ungar (New Mexico State): 3 catches/8 targets, 14 yards, 4.7 yards/catch.
Elliott on his wideouts/tight ends:
“Really excited about what the transfers brought in. I think Rico (Flores Jr.) is very, very steady, and he’s probably going to be a lot like JT (Jayden Thomas) in that he can play all three positions and give us really, really good production at each of those positions. Dede, Da’Shawn Martin, we call him Dede, he’s dynamic, so I think he’s got an opportunity. And then Jacquon (Gibson) has been probably the most steady and consistent of those guys.
“So, I think with the three additions, you got some really good raw material to work with. Now we just got to figure out now that we’ve really had 14 practices to evaluate which one of the spots do they really do they really fit in.”
“TyLyric (Coleman) we talked about when we’re going to have to he’s going to have to continue to train in the direction he’s going. Kam Courtney, being the elder statesman from an experience standpoint, I thought he had a good spring, saw improvement there. I think he’s probably the most ready to be that consistent playmaker for us, has the most experience, the best understanding of the system, just because he’s been here and he’s played the most. I need the two young pups to continue to just progress, Dillon (Newton-Short) and Zay, Zay Robinson.
“Those two, and they’ve made strides. Josiah’s (Persinger) another one that’s been working really, really hard and been consistent, and I think that was the biggest thing with Josiah, is just, hey, let’s work on the consistency, and once we get the consistency where it needs to be, then I think the playmaking ability, and he made a couple plays out there today that you can see that because he’s focusing on the consistency. Now you’re starting to see some of the big plays come out of him.
“Dylan Cope has been a really, really pleasant surprise so quickly, right. I mean, when you get those mid-year freshmen or first-year receivers here, like, man, they’re swimming. But you see him, he can really run, and it doesn’t look like the intensity or the level of competition intimidate him. He was ready to jump right in.”
“So, when you look at it, right now Kam Courtney, because he’s played there. Josiah (Persinger) has been in the slot for us. Jacquon (Gibson) was there for most of the spring. There’s even talk about giving Dede (Da’Shawn Martin) a shot inside now that we see kind of what his skill set is. Those are probably the four candidates for that position right there. And then they’ll also have to play the Z and possibly the X for us. And so that’s where we’ll start and I think we got enough competition there for somebody to be able to emerge.”
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Chris Graham
