When the Virginia football team opens practice next week, a lot of attention will fall on the running backs. That’s true, in part, because coach Tony Elliott continues to emphasize the need to run the football but also due to what will likely be a spirited competition for carries. The Cavaliers, after all, feature a room full of options.
The position includes three upperclassmen recruited to ACC backfields with some proven production, a fourth that climbed from walk-on to starter, and another looking to respond from a season-ending injury. There’s also several young players eager to carve out their own spot. Long story short: Virginia has hungry backs ready to battle for playing time.
In Elliott’s mind, that’s a good thing because he said teams need depth for a long season so having a lot of talent on hand helps keep the train on the tracks.
“We want to run the football and you’ve got to have depth at the position because you want your first team guy, your third team guy, your fourth team guy to look the same, to create the same efficiency,” Elliott said in an ACC Network interview.
Perris Jones emerged in Elliott’s first season as the starting running back, moving from a walk-on with 3 career carries to a featured member of the offense. With 81 carries, he got the most among the backs last season and only former quarterback Brennan Armstrong had more overall with 123 rushing attempts. Jones produced 365 yards and 2 touchdowns in 8 games.
The Alexandria native posted 104 yards and 1 touchdown in a win against Richmond and 56 yards in a win against ODU, netting more than 5 yards per carry in both (5.5 and 5.1). For the season, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry.
Whether he gets that many opportunities again or not, Jones said part of the reason he returned for a sixth year at Virginia was to give it his all for his teammates and coaches.
“I feel like I left a lot out there,” Jones said during the main interview portion of the ACC Kickoff. “I didn’t put my best foot forward, and I was always raised to do so by my parents. I have a lot more to give. You know, a lot more to give my teammates, a lot more to give my coaches, and a lot more to give this program. That’s what I aim to do with this last year. That was a big factor in coming back on top of obviously the tragedy and everything that transpired. I have a debt to pay to those guys, and I plan to pay it.”
That sort of leadership is something that Elliott sees from Jones on a regular basis. It’s something that can help propel the group regardless of who gets which carries in given games.
“He’s one of the best leaders that I’ve been around in my career. It’s just dripping off of him, leadership,” Elliott said in an ACC Network interview. “The biggest thing for him is now he’s got some more competition in the room, can he step his game up and elevate to the level of the competition with the addition of Kobe Pace coming in from Clemson. He’s a man of many talents, but he’s also a very humble young man and he’s got a great, great, great perception and understanding at such a young age.”
Pace is one of the three upperclassmen recruited into ACC schools out of high school. He originally attended Clemson before transferring into Virginia this spring. While Elliott said he wasn’t looking for a running back necessarily in this offseason cycle, he said “bringing him in has been awesome because he automatically what the expectations are, he can echo the things that I’m saying because he’s lived it.” Pace recorded 793 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Tigers while playing 28 games (6 starts). Cody Brown made the same transfer choice after playing the 2021 season as a freshman at Miami. He had 139 yards and 3 touchdowns for the Hurricanes, but never really got settled at UVA where he’s had 2 carries in 4 career games.
There’s also Mike Hollins, who came to Virginia out of high school and has been part of the running back discussion throughout his career. To date, Hollins has 123 carries for 540 yards and 7 touchdowns as a Cavalier with 215 yards and 2 touchdowns last season in Elliott’s debut.
None of that production includes his most inspirational touchdown to date, though. Hollins scored a touchdown in the Virginia Spring Game in April, which came just 5 months after he suffered a gunshot wound in the same shooting that took the lives of teammates Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry. He made a miraculous recovery after surgery and worked his way back to the field sooner than expected.
It’s something that makes him an inspiration to his teammates and beyond.
“I have the privilege of living with Mike as well as working out with him day in and day out,” Jones said. “He is a superhero. That’s the best way that I can describe it. Experiencing what he experienced and carrying himself with as much grace and perseverance as he does is inspirational to see day in and day out. His spirit is truly unbroken, and he embodies that every day. The passion he has for his teammates and for the coaches and for the program, I mean, it’s second to none. The guy is amazing. I love him. I tell him every morning that I’m grateful for him because he inspires me. When you see somebody go through something like that and still get up in the morning and find a way to put one foot in front of the other, it really lets you know that things aren’t as bad in your life as you think they are. I’m grateful for him, and I love him to death. That’s really my brother. I couldn’t be more proud of who he is and who he is becoming.”
In addition to those four upperclassmen, listed junior Amaad Foston will try to break through for his long-awaited debut this season. He redshirted in 2021 under the old coaching staff without any appearances and then saw his season end before it began with a knee injury last year under the new staff. Foston scored 46 touchdowns as a high school senior in Georgia as he helped lead John Milledge Academy to a 13-0 record and the AAA State Championship.
One of the underclassmen already made his debut as a true freshman last fall. Xavier Brown earned his way on to the field where he got 50 carries for 226 yards and a touchdown in 2022. He will look to build on that as a sophomore. Two 2023 recruits want to follow that early playing time path this season as Donte Hawthorne and Noah Vaughn join the Hoos for preseason practice. None of that includes Jack Griese, a sophomore that had a big Spring Game with 90 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“They push each other every day and it’s awesome to see and be around,” Virginia transfer quarterback Tony Muskett said in an ACC Network interview. “I can’t wait to see what they do going into camp and into the season.”
“It’s going to be fun to watch these guys. … You’ve got Mike Hollins and Mike Hollins is playing at an extremely high level, brought in Cody Brown, Amaad Foston returns, Xavier Brown had a good first year for us,” Elliott said of some of the backs in the mix. “The biggest thing is create competition and make sure whoever is in there it doesn’t matter at all, it looks relatively the same. Then over the course of a 12-game season, those guys take a pounding and you’ve got to have guys that complement each other and take care of each other as opposed to one.”
