Amidst the lead-up to Virginia’s spring game, Coach Tony Elliott offered his perspective on what the 2025 season taught him.
“The hardest part is handling success,” Elliott said. “We have to go create this team's identity … We got to start over, we got to double down on our core values and we got to create an identity for this team based off of the foundation that's been laid from a program standpoint.”
One area where Elliott certainly doubled down is the backfield. His yield at quarterback and running back from the spring transfer window evidences a lesson well-learned — the five players who make up 2026’s class of additions collectively imbue a strong sense of déjà vu, starting with the player set to lead the team for the upcoming campaign.
At first glance, graduate Quarterback Beau Pribula — announced as the starter early in summer practice sessions — appears to be dissimilar to former Cavalier Chandler Morris. Pribula stands at 6-foot-2, possessing a much more imposing build than Morris’ 6-foot-0. Diving deeper, the shorter man arrived in Charlottesville coming off a more impressive season — Morris tossed 20 more touchdowns in 2024 than Pribula in 2025, with only three more interceptions — albeit against lesser competition in the American Conference.
Beyond the surface, the pair share more similarity than difference. For instance, Pribula demonstrated a Morris-esque willingness to put his body on the line last season. Just as Morris never missed a 2025 start despite a concussion, the next Cavalier signal-caller returned to the field just two games after dislocating his knee trying to score a touchdown from the goal line. Both consistently utilize their legs to gain extra yardage, and according to Virginia Quarterbacks Coach Taylor Lamb, Pribula offers even more upside on the ground.
“Chandler could run,” Lamb said. “Chandler was really good straight-line and could extend plays. Beau is really agile, side-to-side he is a more physical runner than we had last year.”
Morris emerged as an essential leader for the Cavaliers last season despite Charlottesville being a short final stop in his lengthy four-team career. Similarly, Pribula’s turn at Virginia comes after three years buried on the depth chart at Penn State and a one-year stint with Missouri. Additionally, he is not the only new face in the quarterback room. Pribula has a talented newcomer in senior Eli Holstein as his backup akin to former Cavalier Daniel Kaelin.
Holstein joins the Cavaliers after one-and-a-half seasons as the starter at Pittsburgh, with his second turn at the top of the depth chart ending in a mid-year benching. The former Panther still has plenty of upside, as he was a former top recruit who began his career at Alabama during legendary Coach Nick Saban’s tenure. He possesses an aggressiveness Pribula lacks — his 8.41 adjusted yards per attempt last season would have ranked 27th in FBS, while Pribula ranked 87th, a substantial gap even accounting for offensive scheme discrepancies.
Sophomore and junior quarterbacks Cole Geer and Boone Lourd, as well as three-star freshman Ely Hamrick, round out the room.
If Pribula and Holstein are Elliott doubling down on Morris and Kaelin, then senior running back Jekail Middlebrook and junior running back Peyton Lewis are a strong bid to recreate the one-two punch of J’Mari Taylor and Harrison Waylee. Running Backs Coach Keith Gaither brought up the Middlebrook-Taylor comparison himself.
“If I was to say one guy who stood out in the room it would have been Jekail Middlebrook,” Gaither said during July media availability. “He’s a kid that can do it all. He reminds me a lot of J’Mari Taylor. He can run between the tackles, he can outrun people, he can run over people … He could easily become an all-conference player just like J’Mari.”
The Honorable Mention All-Conference USA rusher enters as the most productive player in the running back room, amassing 752 rushing yards and 412 receiving yards with Middle Tennessee State last season. Similar to how Lamb views Pribula as an upgrade on the ground over Morris, Gaither sees Middlebrook as a more dangerous receiver than Taylor — Middlebrook only caught three more passes than Taylor last season, but he averaged over 10 yards per reception next to Taylor’s 5.9.
Middlebrook’s partner-in-crime hails from Salem, Va., just over 100 miles from Grounds. Former Tennessee running back Peyton Lewis mirrors Waylee as a bruiser with elite breakaway speed. Although Lewis emerged as a redzone specialist for the Volunteers last season, pounding in seven scores, he wasted no time displaying his home run potential in the spring game for Virginia with a 50-yard rush.
Arriving with Middlebrook and Lewis is former Alabama at Birmingham running back Solomon Beebe. Rather than evoking another running back, Beebe profiles closer to former Cavalier receiver Cam Ross as a do-it-all weapon. Ross returned kickoffs for 266 yards and 33.3 yards-per-return last season, while Beebe managed a whopping 600 and 26.1 in those categories. He may not catch as many passes as Ross, but Beebe will get receiving work — he starred in the spring game with a touchdown grab.
The trio of additions bolsters a position group that already possessed remarkable depth given Taylor and Waylee’s departures. Graduate running back Xavier Brown, with the program since 2022, has struggled mightily with injuries throughout his career. Despite this, he has contributed when healthy and appears set to play a role in Offensive Coordinator Des Kitchens’ offense. Senior and sophomore running backs Noah Vaughn and Xay Davis will make appearances as well, having filled in at times last season.
Elliott drew from the past to build his backfield, but the aggressiveness needed for his approach in the transfer portal — reeling in multiple top-of-market replacements at quarterback and running back — reflects his recognition and response to the challenge of building a football team in the NIL era.
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