Tony Elliott has already made the biggest call of Virginia’s preseason: Beau Pribula is his starter.
The harder part comes next.
With fall camp set to begin Wednesday, Elliott has to decide how to divide the first-team reps between Pribula and Eli Holstein, because Virginia’s quarterback room is not a place where one man can simply be handed the whole month and called ready. Pribula won the job after a spring battle, and Elliott’s preference for his mobility and arm strength came through clearly. But the Cavaliers also need to make sure the backup is not left cold.
Pribula brings plenty of upside, but he also arrives with a short college résumé for a redshirt senior. He has only 10 starts, all of them at Missouri last season. He is also learning a new offense and a new group of targets, with only slot receiver Kam Courtney back as a regular from last year’s passing game.
That makes every rep matter. Pribula has to build timing and trust with Courtney, Rico Flores Jr., Da'Shawn Martin, Jacquon Gibson, Tyson Davis and the freshmen DaMari Carter and Dylan Cope.
The same is true with the backs Peyton Lewis, Jekail Middlebrook and Xavier Brown, plus tight ends Dakota Twitty and John Rogers. If Virginia wants to be sharp against N.C.
State in the Aug. 29 opener, that chemistry has to come fast.
There’s also the injury question. Pribula missed two midseason games at Missouri in 2025 with an ankle injury, and his style naturally invites contact because of the way he can extend plays outside structure. Even with an experienced offensive line in front of him, that’s part of the equation Elliott has to weigh.
He also has last season’s Wake Forest game in the back of his mind. In that 16-9 loss, starter Chandler Morris left in the first quarter with a concussion, and backup Daniel Kaelin never settled in, finishing with no Virginia touchdowns in the Cavaliers’ only regular-season ACC defeat.
Holstein is not a typical second-stringer, either. He started 10 games at Pittsburgh in 2024 and opened the first four games of last season before losing the job to freshman Mason Heintschel. He also spent his freshman year at Alabama, so he may not need quite as much runway as most backups.
Even so, practice is practice, and Elliott knows it. If Pribula gets hurt, Holstein would benefit from having already built some timing with the players around him, especially with tougher defenses looming later in the year.
Elliott has done this before in the ACC, and he knows the challenge is simple to state and hard to solve: use enough preseason snaps to get Pribula ready, while keeping Holstein prepared for the moment Virginia might need him.
In Other News...
Tony Elliott Faces Virginias Biggest Camp Question On Offense
Virginia begins preseason practice on Wednesday with a familiar challenge for Tony Elliotts staff: keeping the offense on the same track after its best season under him. The Cavaliers do have some stability up front, with key offensive linemen and tight ends back in place, but the rest of the unit is going to look different when they open the 2026 season against NC State on Aug. 29 at Scott Stadium.
The biggest unknowns are the spots that usually drive an offense, and Virginia will be sorting through new faces at quarterback, running back and receiver while also filling a couple of openings along the line. For a team trying to build on last years progress, the next few weeks of camp will matter less for what is already settled than for how quickly those new pieces come together before a 3:30 p.m. kickoff that will arrive sooner than it looks. [Read more 🡒]
Why Virginias Freshman Class Suddenly Matters More Than Fans Expected
Virginias 2026 freshman class did not arrive with much buzz, at least not by the recruiting rankings. But the roster math is changing quickly for the Cavaliers, and that makes this group more relevant than the usual first-year class. With experienced starters in place, Virginia still has some spots where depth will matter, especially at linebacker and wide receiver, and that opens a path for freshmen to get on the field sooner than many fans expected.
Dylan Cope has already drawn attention in spring practice and looks like one of the newcomers most likely to factor into the rotation. The bigger picture is that Virginia may not be asking this class to carry the team right away, but it could be leaning on it in meaningful ways during the season, which gives the group a chance to matter long before the long-term recruiting grade catches up. [Read more 🡒]
Virginias Biggest Camp Test Might Be Up Front Again
Virginias training camp is shaping up as a real proving ground up front, where the defensive line has been reworked with experience and competition in mind. The Cavaliers brought in seven veteran transfers to battle with returning pieces such as senior Fisher Camac, junior Billy Koudelka and grad student Ezekiel Larry, giving the staff a deeper pool to sort through as it tries to settle the line before the season begins.
The challenge is that the jobs are not just open, they are layered with uncertainty at both tackle and end, which means every rep in camp matters. With several players jockeying for starting and backup roles, Virginia is still trying to find the right mix of size, production and reliability, and the answers up front may end up telling the story of how far this defense can go. [Read more 🡒]