West Virginia’s Week 3 trip to Charlotte will now come with a different look under center for Virginia.
Tony Elliott announced that Missouri transfer Beau Pribula has beaten out former Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein for the Cavaliers’ starting job, meaning the Mountaineers are set to face Pribula instead of the quarterback they lit up in last year’s Backyard Brawl.
That matters because Holstein’s night in that rivalry game was rough from the start. West Virginia beat him up with pressure all game, piling up 27 pressures, 15 hurries, seven sacks and five QB hits. Holstein still finished 22 of 37 for 303 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but the Mountaineers made life miserable around him.
Pribula, meanwhile, arrives with a much different résumé. He was heavily recruited by WVU’s former staff before ending up at Penn State, where he made cameo appearances against the Mountaineers in both 2023 and 2024. In those two games combined, he went 2-for-2 for 26 yards and a touchdown and added 43 rushing yards and a score on six carries.
After Drew Allar returned for his senior season, Pribula moved on to Missouri to take over as the starter. His first year in that role was uneven. He completed 67% of his passes for 1,941 yards and 11 touchdowns, but also tossed nine interceptions and had a tough time in SEC play.
A lot of that production came against Central Arkansas, Kansas, Lafayette and UMass. In conference games, the numbers dipped hard: 88 completions on 152 attempts, a 57.9% completion rate, and only three touchdown passes against seven interceptions.
The clean-pocket numbers are where the concern really shows up. Pribula completed more than 74% of his throws when not pressured, but six of his nine interceptions came when he was kept clean.
He also didn’t fare well pushing the ball downfield, completing just 43 of 85 attempts on passes of 10 yards or more. Six of his interceptions came on throws in the intermediate range, between 10 and 19 yards.
If Pribula handles the first two games against North Carolina State and Norfolk State and stays healthy, WVU will be preparing for him in Charlotte. If not, Holstein could still end up back in the picture.
In Other News...
Two WVU Starters Suddenly Face A 2026 Role Shakeup
West Virginias offensive depth chart is already starting to take shape for the future, and two familiar names are at the center of the discussion. Livingston, who handled the starting center job before, is now being viewed as a player whose best path may be in a reserve role, while Fox remains part of the quarterback conversation as the Mountaineers map out what comes next behind Mike Hawkins.
For Fox, the immediate outlook is more about patience than pressure, since his development appears tied to Hawkins keeping the job this fall. Livingstons situation is a little different, with the staffs offseason moves creating a clearer opening for someone else at center and leaving his role to be sorted out as West Virginia pieces together its interior line for 2026. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Recruiting Board Faces New Pressure After Peach Jam Weekend
The Peach Jam weekend in North Augusta gave West Virginias 2027 recruiting board a fresh look at three priority prospects, and the results were mixed enough to keep the staff digging. Paul Osaruyi, Javion Tyndale and Justin Frison all got extended run on the Nike EYBL stage, where every possession is under a microscope and every game can sharpen or complicate a recruiting evaluation.
Osaruyis group never found a foothold in group play, while Tyndales team struggled to string together enough wins to climb out of the pack. Frisons team was the most competitive of the three, but even that run ended short of the playoffs, leaving WVU with plenty of film and a few new questions as the board starts to tighten around what each player can bring at the next level. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Camp Is About To Answer Its Biggest Roster Question
Fall camp is about to do what spring ball and summer speculation could not: start sorting out a West Virginia roster that looks very different heading into 2026. With so many new faces in the mix, the Mountaineers have real competition at several spots, and the staff has already made clear it wanted more depth and size in key areas as it pieced this group together. The biggest spotlight, naturally, falls on quarterback, where Michael Hawkins and Scotty Fox are set to battle for the job while the offense tries to settle around a new core.
The intrigue does not stop there, either. The interior defensive line should be a crowded fight for snaps, and the cornerback room has its own blend of returners and transfers trying to carve out roles before the opener. Those battles will tell a lot about how quickly this roster can come together, and they may also reveal which additions were brought in to play immediately and which veterans can hold off the push. [Read more 🡒]