As a whole, linebackers on the 2024 Virginia football team accounted for two of the team’s top three leaders in tackles, as well as two of the top five in tackles for loss. Fortunately, all of the unit’s contributors are back for 2025 and will play a pivotal role in turning around a defense that finished in the bottom five in the ACC last season in yards and points per game allowed.
There is just one catch — these linebackers have been dealt a difficult swath of injuries, and their success will depend on staying healthy.
On paper, the unit looks promising. Junior Kam Robinson, graduate student James Jackson and senior Trey McDonald return with plenty of promise. Additionally, senior Stevie Bracey and sophomore Myles Brown, both members of the 2024 squad, will contribute. Coach Tony Elliott bolstered the position even further in the transfer portal by landing junior Maddox Marcellus from Eastern Kentucky.
Among the members of that cohort, Robinson will be the star of the Cavalier defense in 2025. Since his first season in 2023, Robinson has been a force to be reckoned with that ACC offenses fear. Now in his junior season, Robinson is getting national recognition — he was named to The Athletic’s “Freak List” and earned a pre-season All-ACC nomination.
However, injuries have consistently plagued him and caused him to miss big games such as against Maryland in 2024. This year, Robinson will be week-to-week at the start of this season with a fractured collarbone. Having played through last season with a sprained knee, Elliott wants to avoid that in 2025 and have the surgery done preseason.
“We anticipate he’ll be down for a couple weeks,” Elliott said. “I think he gets his stitches out this week and then he’ll be back into conditioning.”
Stepping up in Robinson’s absence will be Marcellus. Last year, Marcellus was an all-conference player in the Football Championship Subdivision. Now, as the level of talent around him heightens, it will be intriguing to see how Marcellus fares. Marcellus has the size to make the leap easily and has a similar frame to most of the team’s linebackers, as he stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 228 pounds.
Marcellus is very dynamic and has the ability to drop back into coverage well and play a role in the run defense. It makes almost perfect sense for him to back up Robinson, as the two play a similar game.
Standing opposite of Robinson and Marcellus are Jackson and McDonald. Both received notable playing time in 2024, with Jackson being the starter and McDonald filling in when Jackson missed five games due to injury. When healthy, he has been a highlight player, most notably securing the game-sealing interception to defeat North Carolina in 2023. Now in his final season, it will be all about being healthy and finishing on a high note.
McDonald, on the other hand, is known for being a hard-hitter who will make opponents pay for disrespecting him. While it sometimes came at a fault — McDonald was ejected from the Pittsburgh game last year for targeting — he has an attack-first mindset that the linebacker unit will need in a competitive ACC.
“We look for the pain. Wherever the pain is, we got to dish some out,” McDonald said. “When you dish out some pain you’re going to take it, but it’s fun and it’s part of the game.”
Like Robinson, McDonald also played through an injury in 2024 that required postseason surgery. His toughness is unmatched on the field, and every play with him involved will have some fireworks. Hopefully, McDonald will be able to dish out more pain than he takes in 2025.
Lastly, both Bracey and Brown will get on the field at times this season and seek an immediate impact whenever their time comes. Bracey missed the entirety of 2024 with an injury, so 2025 will be his first true game action since he was a backup in 2023. While it will be interesting to see how Bracey returns, he has only logged 26 career tackles, so expectations are not all that high.
Brown will be entering his first full season of play for Virginia after appearing in just three games in 2024. Like Bracey, he will most likely not contribute much on defense and will probably be a special teams contributor or an injury replacement. However, as a younger player his development under guys like Robinson and Jackson will be fun to watch.
With so much continuity in a team full of change, the Cavalier linebackers will have to take a leap to lead this defense back to a better place. Fortunately, their attack-first mindset and dynamic playmaking leaves them in a good spot if they can just mitigate injuries.
Xander Tilock contributed reporting.
Read More
Lambe’s stunner throws No. 17 men’s soccer past Stetson to early winning streak
By Michael Liebermann | YesterdayThe junior midfielder missed a similar shot in preseason. This time he scored it.
No. 17 women’s soccer surges late to take down Liberty on the road
By Sam Chun | YesterdayThe Cavaliers remain perfect in their series against the Flames.
The ‘Firemen’ on the D-Line will prove pivotal to rescuing Virginia’s defense
By Ben McNiff | 4 days agoInstead of reacting to the opposing offense, these Cavaliers are in attack mode.
