Virginia’s fall camp has already started to sort out a few names, and three players are making an early push as the Cavaliers work through limited jobs and depth-chart battles before the Aug. 29 opener.
On defense, Omillio Agard has caught Tony Elliott’s eye for the way he changes gears once the whistle blows. Elliott said, “What stands out to me about Omillio is, man, he can flip that switch,” and expanded on that idea by describing Agard as calm and respectful away from the field but relentless once he steps inside the lines.
“He's as pleasant a young man as you're going to meet. Very respectful, very humble.
When he walks across those white lines, he flips a switch and he becomes what you want in a defensive back. And I saw quickly the suddenness and the burst.”
Agard has also brought a little edge to camp, even jawing at quarterback Beau Pribula after the defense made a play. Elliott said the bigger takeaway has been what Agard brings mentally, not just physically.
“He's a student of the game,” Elliott said. “So when I'm in here asking questions about situational football, he sits about second row, two seats in, and he's answering the questions.
He's got a ton of ability. He's a good teammate.
He's a competitor.”
At slot receiver, Jacquon Gibson is making a strong case to keep climbing. Des Kitchings said Gibson’s experience stands out, but what really jumps off the tape and the practice field is how naturally he thinks the game.
“I tell you what I like about and appreciate with Jacquon - obviously his experience, but you can tell he's a football mind,” Kitchings said. “He loves football.”
Kitchings even put Gibson in the same conversational space as Malik Washington and Cam Ross, while making clear that the comparison was about personality, habits and energy rather than output. Still, the nod matters. Washington and Ross arrived as one-year transfers and piled up catches, and Gibson’s own numbers fit the profile too: he averaged 6.3 catches per game, which ranked 12th in FBS.
“I just think his DNA of him and his competitive spirit that he's going to do some good things for us this fall,” Kitchings said.
Kitchings also said Gibson “has flash,” and that has helped him emerge as someone who could end up with a larger role than many expected.
The third name drawing attention is tight end Tyler Twitty, whose biggest leap has come between the ears. Kitchings said he challenged Twitty this offseason to get better mentally, especially when it comes to reading defensive structure before the snap.
“My challenge to him this offseason was to grow mentally, understanding defensive structures, right?” Kitchings said.
“Alignment, secondary rotation, linebacker alignment so that, pre-snap, we're getting a picture to play faster postsnap and he's showing that. He's talking football, he's asking questions in the meeting that he probably wouldn't have asked last year or the year before."
Twitty, once a four-star wide receiver recruit according to ESPN and 247Sports, has played in 24 games as a tight end for Virginia. He was part of Elliott’s first team in 2022 and later learned from veteran Sage Ennis. Kitchings said Twitty has carried that experience forward and started to grow into a leadership role this summer.
"Sage was a very strong personality too,” Kitchings said. “So I think [Twitty] absorbed and took some things from that.
And he has grown within this team throughout the summer of feeling his leadership abilities to come out. He's a guy that has been here when it was not good, at the start.”
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