Three biggest Virginia takeaways from this year's ACC kickoff

Tony Elliott, Beau Pribula and others took to the makeshift stage and spoke with media

Beau Pribula, McKale Boley, Tony Elliott and Kam Robinson pose for a photo at the 2026 ACC Kickoff. | Courtesy Virginia Athletics

The 2026 season is just six weeks away — and the countdown is well underway now that the ACC Kickoff media event has concluded. Virginia football will take the field Aug. 29 for its season opener against NC State. ACC Huddle will be present in Charlottesville.

At the ACC Kickoff, appearances were made by Tony Elliott, Beau Pribula, Kam Robinson and McKale Boley. Each member of the Cavaliers spoke, beginning with Elliott. A few takeaways stand out from what that Virginia cohort had to say earlier this week. 

Players first

Elliott mentioned that Virginia added 46 new players this offseason. Rather than drilling schemes and details early, he took a different approach — a player-led coalescence. 

“These last couple months [have] really been about the team coming together,” Elliott said. “Taking the coaches out of the equation and letting the players naturally bond together to create the chemistry needed to become a successful team.”

Many of those new players are graduate students who have spent several years at another school, or sometimes multiple. Even so, the Cavaliers did not experience many growing pains last offseason — or this offseason, according to both coaches and players.

Elliott has occasionally said that the “right players” are often better than the “best players.” Perhaps that applies to the mental side of the game, both on and off the field. A good comradery is the foundation of what is displayed on the field.

Beau Pribula looks the part of a quarterbacking captain

Pribula said that he has been collaborating with offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, exchanging plays and finding ones that the quarterback especially likes. That is what Kitchings did with Chandler Morris last year — and it showed. When Virginia embraced parts of Morris’ air raid background, points often followed.

Now with Pribula, the Cavaliers can commit more towards the run game and play action. When describing his play style, Pribula said he likes to “put my head down and put my face into things and be a fiery competitor.” 

Another note — Pribula answers questions with the maturity that a coach hopes to see in their starting quarterback. When asked about Virginia’s previous successes, Pribula referred to them as “theirs” and not “ours.” He wants to earn everything, and he wants to earn everything.

“Expectations are high,” Pribula said. “That's just the way we want it. That's the way the standard should be. Every time we take the field, the expectation should be to win.”

Tony Elliott’s message remains unchanged

Building champion men. Handling success. The model program. Throw in “flush results,” H.E.A.R.T., and F.I.T., and that is essentially the full album of Tony Elliott mantras. He touched on each of them to some extent at ACC Kickoff. 

The specific stories might be different — Elliott brought up losing the 2015 National Championship, which is not a commonly shared story of his — but the themes are the same. Instead of sulking, he implored his fellow coaches to flush the result and lift their men up. 

If there were some blended version of all Elliott’s sayings into one clear vision, that would summarize what he wants to see from his Cavaliers in 2026 and beyond. The word “championship” would be in there frequently.