Virginia came out of ACC Kickoff with a clear message from Tony Elliott and two of his key players: the Cavaliers want the offseason to be about chemistry, ownership and expectations.
With the 2026 season now six weeks away and Virginia set to open Aug. 29 against NC State, Elliott, Beau Pribula, Kam Robinson and McKale Boley all spoke in Charlottesville as part of the league’s annual media event. The biggest theme from the Virginia group was that this team has spent the last couple of months building itself from the inside out.
Elliott said Virginia brought in 46 new players this offseason, and his early focus was not on piling on schemes. Instead, he wanted the group to connect on its own.
“These last couple months [have] really been about the team coming together,” Elliott said. “Taking the coaches out of the equation and letting the players naturally bond together to create the chemistry needed to become a successful team.”
That approach matters even more with so many newcomers, including graduate students who have already spent years at other schools, and sometimes multiple schools. Still, Virginia hasn’t sounded like a team fighting through major growing pains. Coaches and players both pointed to a smoother transition than you might expect.
Elliott has long talked about the idea that the “right players” can matter more than the “best players.” In this case, that seems to apply as much to the mental side of the game as anything else. The bond off the field is supposed to show up once the ball is kicked.
Pribula’s comments offered another window into how Virginia sees itself on offense. He said he has been working with offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, swapping plays and identifying the ones he likes most. That mirrors what Kitchings did with Chandler Morris last season, when Virginia leaned into parts of Morris’ air raid background and saw points follow.
With Pribula, the Cavaliers can lean more into the run game and play action. He described his style simply: he likes to “put my head down and put my face into things and be a fiery competitor.”
He also sounded like a quarterback who understands exactly where he is in the pecking order. When asked about Virginia’s past success, Pribula called it “theirs” rather than “ours.”
That line said plenty. He wants to earn his place, and he wants the standard to stay high.
“Expectations are high,” Pribula said. “That's just the way we want it.
That's the way the standard should be. Every time we take the field, the expectation should be to win.”
That kind of language fits neatly with Elliott’s broader message. He has built his program around a set of phrases that come up again and again: building champion men, handling success, the model program, “flush results,” H.E.A.R.T. and F.I.T. At ACC Kickoff, he touched on all of them in some form.
The stories behind those ideas may change - Elliott mentioned losing the 2015 National Championship, a story he does not often share - but the point stays the same. Don’t dwell.
Move on. Lift the group.
And keep pushing toward something bigger.
If there was one takeaway from Virginia’s appearance, it was that Elliott’s vision has not changed. The language may come in different forms, but the destination is constant. Championship is the word that keeps surfacing.
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Virginia's 2026 Opener Already Carries Pressure Tony Elliott Can't Ignore
Virginias 2025 surge changed the conversation around the program almost overnight. An 11-win season, an ACC Championship Game appearance and a Gator Bowl victory gave Tony Elliott and his team something they had not had before: real proof that the rebuild had taken hold, along with the kind of expectations that come with it. Now the Cavaliers head into 2026 with a home opener against NC State that already feels heavier than a typical September start, because the standard in Charlottesville is no longer about simply being competitive.
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Tony Elliott heads into his fourth season at Virginia with the kind of momentum that can change the way a program is viewed around the ACC. After an 11-win year and a trip to the conference championship game in 2025, the Cavaliers are no longer just trying to prove they belong in the conversation. They are starting to look like a team others have to account for, especially with a 2026 schedule that appears to line up in their favor and a slate tilted heavily toward home dates.
Greg McElroy recently pointed to Virginia as a team that could surprise people in the league, and the reasons are easy to see from the outside. The Cavaliers avoid several of the ACC's biggest names, and their opener against NC State is now back in Charlottesville after the original South America plan fell apart. With a manageable road list and plenty of chances to build on last season's breakthrough, the bigger question is whether Virginia can handle the expectations that come with being a trendy pick instead of the hunter. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Faces A Defining Test After Its Breakout Season
Virginias breakout season has changed the conversation around football in Charlottesville, and now the program is trying to turn that momentum into a fuller Scott Stadium. The school has launched its Sell Out Scott push for the 2026 opener, leaning on the idea that last years surge should carry over from the field to the stands. Tony Elliott has made clear that fan engagement matters, but so does the experience waiting for people once they get there.
The timing makes this more than a routine ticket drive. Virginia is coming off a year in which attendance climbed sharply, yet the program is still trying to prove that the interest can become something more durable on a fall Saturday. The Athletics Foundations revised season-ticket setup has also changed the seating picture for some longtime supporters, so the challenge is not just getting fans back, but getting them back in a way that feels like a true home-field event again. [Read more 🡒]