UVA Football: Elliott names protege Justin Speros to be program’s general manager

It is taking not one, but two guys to fill the void left by the departure of Tyler Jones from UVA Athletics.

With Jones headed to Stanford to take over as the chief operating officer of the athletics program there, Cody Gougler was announced a couple of weeks ago as the new deputy athletics director for external operations.

Today, the department announced that Justin Speros will succeed Jones as the general manager for the UVA Football program.

Speros was the assistant GM under Jones.

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ICYMI: UVA Football

• UVA Athletics is losing an important guy, Tyler Jones, to an ACC rival
• UVA Football: Thinking through who replaces Tyler Jones as the GM
• UVA names successor to football GM Tyler Jones

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“Justin has been involved in every aspect of our player evaluation and acquisition process since we’ve been here and knows our organization inside and out,” UVA Football coach Tony Elliott said, per a press release from the school announcing the promotion for Speros.

“He’s been an integral part of our roster building process from the beginning,” Elliott said. “I’m excited to see him grow and develop into this new role and have complete confidence he can help us get to where we need to go.”

Speros, a Virginia native, earned his bachelor’s degree from Clemson in 2017. At Clemson, he worked as an undergraduate assistant for Elliott, who was on Dabo Swinney’s staff as the co-offensive coordinator and offensive play-caller.

Speros worked as a recruiting assistant for 13 months after his graduation, and worked internships in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars prior to entering the college ranks full-time, with stints at Western Carolina and South Florida.

Elliott brought him to UVA in 2022 as the director of scouting, and elevated him to the position of director of recruiting later that year.

The responsibilities for that job, per the athletics department release, included all elements of roster management, high school and transfer evaluations, supervision over all on-campus recruiting visits, serving as the program’s liaison to professional football and oversight of the player personnel department.

As part of the program’s establishment of a front office, Speros was named the assistant general manager in July, and added chief of staff to his title prior to the 2025 season.

“I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Williams and Coach Elliott for this opportunity to serve as general manager,” Speros said. “Their collective vision and leadership have transformed the landscape of Virginia Football, and I am excited to contribute to its continued success while supporting our student-athletes, coaches and staff. Charlottesville has truly become home for me and my wife, Kaycie, and it is simply a tremendous honor to represent the V-Sabre. The University of Virginia will continue to get my all.”