UVA Football: The defense will once again be the foundation in 2026

Betcha didn’t think about how the UVA Football defense was the backbone of the 11-win season in 2025.

We came to take it for granted, that the D was just good.

How good, though?

• Virginia was second in the ACC in scoring defense (19.6 points per game).
• Third in total defense (310.1 yards per game).
• Fourth in sacks (31).
• First in opponent first downs (15.7 per game) and third-down conversions (28.0 percent).

There are two reasons that the 2026 Virginia defense should actually be better than last year’s unit: depth, and talent.

“I think it’s probably the deepest roster we’ve had,” head coach Tony Elliott said on Monday. “Just when you go out there, you see the lines like they’re a little bit longer, right? There’s more guys that look like each other, so to speak. Now it’s just a function of managing the rest of camp the right way to make sure that we have the functional, competitive depth.”

D line

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Our eyes are trained to follow the ball, but the game is won, or lost, up front, where the oversized guys fight with each other to establish the front line.

Between returning guys and pickups from the portal, defensive coordinator John Rudzinski should have eight guys with significant college-level experience to rotate in and out of the lineup along the defensive front.

• DE Fisher Camac (Virginia): 428 snaps, 18 QB pressures, five sacks, 36 run-game tackles.
• DE Ezekiel Larry (Yale): 577 snaps, 46 QB pressures, 10 sacks, 31 run-game tackles.
• DE Matthew Fobbs-White (Baylor): 387 snaps in 2025, with 33 QB pressures, 20 run-game tackles.
• DE Nnanna Anyanwu (UTSA): 278 snaps, 20 QB pressures, five sacks, 11 run-game tackles.
• DT Jonathan Allen (UAB): 390 snaps, 14 QB pressures, three sacks, 32 run-game tackles.
• DT Jason Hammond (Virginia): 360 snaps, 18 QB pressures, three sacks, 28 run-game tackles.
• DT Anthony Britton (Virginia): 227 snaps, 11 QB pressures, one sacks, 16 run-game tackles.
• DT Darrion Henry-Young (Coastal Carolina): 134 snaps, 11 tackles, three QB pressures.

“When you have depth on the D line, then you can have some versatility in the packages, right, that you have,” Elliott said. “And then, when you’re playing a lot more guys, right, you’re fresher up front, so now you kind of wear on the offense as opposed to the offense wearing on you over the course of the game.”

Linebacker corps

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At linebacker, “we got all those guys rocking and rolling with more experience, so we’re faster at linebacker, we’re longer, we’re more athletic at linebacker, and that’s not with Kam (Robinson) in there,” said Elliott, alluding to the kid gloves approach that the staff is taking to the return of preseason All-ACC first-team linebacker Kam Robinson from the ACL injury that cut his 2025 season short.

“You throw Kam back in the mix, and now you 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 and in certain down and distance situations,” Elliott said.

• Kam Robinson (Virginia): 416 snaps, 64 tackles, two INTs, one PBU, nine QB pressures, two sacks.
• Maddox Marcellus (Virginia): 334 snaps, 11 QB pressures, three sacks, 26 run-game tackles, two pass breakups, INT.
• Landon Danley (Virginia): 299 snaps, 49 tackles, four QB hurries.
• Caleb Hardy (Virginia): 157 snaps, 17 tackles, three QB hurries.

Secondary

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This is an obvious position group of strength.

• CB Donavon Platt (Virginia): 576 snaps, 29 catches/49 targets, one INT, three PBUs.
• CB Jam Jackson (Virginia): missed 2025 with an injury; in 2024, 760 snaps, 45 catches/71 targets, five PBUs.
• CB Patrick Campbell (Dartmouth): 534 snaps, 40 tackles, 20 receptions/34 targets, one INT, three PBUs.
• CB Ja’Maric Morris (Georgia State): missed 2025 with an injury; in 2024, 212 snaps, nine tackles, 9 receptions/16 targets, two INTs, two PBUs.
• CB Jacobie Henderson (Rutgers): 600 snaps, 40 tackles, 28 receptions/50 pass targets, two PBUs.
• CB Justin Ross (Navy): 466 snaps, 30 tackles, 18 receptions/26 targets, one INT, three PBUs.
• CB Omillio Agard (Wisconsin): four-star prep recruit, redshirted in 2024, did not play in 2025.
• S Christian Ellis (Virginia Tech/New Mexico): played in four games at Tech in 2025, with eight tackles, one reception/five targets, three PBUs. At New Mexico: 900 snaps, 92 tackles, 23 catches/33 targets, four PBUs, one INT, four QB hurries, one sack in 2024.
• S Jaylen Jones (Georgia State): 563 snaps, 69 tackles, 13 catches/14 targets, one INT, one PBU.
• S Brandyn Hillman (Michigan): 545 snaps, 56 tackles, 9 receptions/15 targets, one INT, three PBUs.
• S Jalen McNair (Buffalo): 543 snaps, 50 tackles, 14 receptions/27 targets, two INTs, four PBUs.
• S Ethan Minter (Virginia): 523 snaps, 47 tackles, 10 receptions/17 targets, one INTs, two PBUs.
• S Corey Costner (Virginia): 260 snaps, 28 tackles, 9 catches/16 targets, two INTs, one PBU.