Three Things To Watch For In Virginia's Spring Football Game This Saturday

Virginia’s spring is winding down and will conclude with a spring game on Saturday in Charlottesville. There are several storylines and things to watch in the game this weekend. Let’s take a closer look.

1.Will Eli Holstein make up ground on Beau Pribula?

There has been sentiment that it is Beau Pribula’s job to lose right now for the starting quarterback job for Virginia next season. The former Missouri transfer has been standing out in the spring and has been comfortable learning a new offense. Holstein came over from Pittsburgh and lost his starting position after dealing with injuries last year. Saturday will provide the first look at both quarterbacks and a chance for either to emerge as a true frontrunner for the starting role. Will Eli Holstein have a good performance and gain some ground on Pribula? It will be one of the biggest storylines to follow this weekend.

2. Virginia's new look defensive line

The Cavaliers brought in a number of transfers to help with some of the overhaul they had at the defensive line. Guys like Matthew Fobbs-White, Nnanna Anyanwu, Zion Wilson, Darrion Henry-Young, Devon Baxter, and Ezekiel Larry. That is not even mentioning their veteran star defensive player, Fisher Camac. There has been some buzz about this unit, and they will get a chance to show this on Saturday. It has the chance to be a top unit, and one of the best in the Tony Elliot era.

“Well, I thought last year, Coach Downing and I, you know, we kind of made a pact together that, hey, man, we're going to get after these quarterbacks, and we were kind of like the D-line was something that Coach Elliott always kind of puts a lot of pressure on. I know, Coach Downing and I, we invited um we don't run away from it. So, we took personal challenges to make sure our defensive line was getting after the quarterback, and they played at a pretty good level. I thought those guys produced and so I thought the guys coming in, they got a chance to see you know players be productive in this scheme across the board. Two years ago, I think we were in the bottom dwellers in the sacks in the ACC, and this year we were completely like in the top three or four. So it was last year, excuse me. So it was a big deal for us, and I thought you know it's more attractive when you got proof that you know your guys are being productive in the system, guys want to come and play for you,” said defensive ends coach Chris Slade.

3. Virginia's Impressive Running Back Room

One of the talks of the offseason and in the spring has been the elite running backs that the Cavaliers were able to acquire in the transfer portal. Peyton Lewis, Jekail Middlebrook, and Solomon Beebe make for an elite trio in the backfield and have the potential to be an even better unit than last year. Lewis comes over from Tennessee, Middlebrook from Middle Tennessee State, and Beebe from UAB. Together, this could be the best trio in college football if they can play at a high level.

"Yeah, so Peyton (Lewis) is what I thought. I mean, he's a big body that can run, natural runner, so he's got good eye-foot coordination. His eyes talk to his feet very, very well. He's got to work on catching the ball out of the backfield. Seems like he learns very well, so picks up concepts pretty quickly.

And again, today's just the second day in pads, and it's been very controlled. So those guys don't get a fair eval (evaluation) until you turn them loose live. But he's been what I thought. Dynamic, and he was a guy that was a combo guy, right, so he could play wideout, running back wasn't sure like where his real home was, but he looks like he's at home as a running back.

(Jekail) Middlebrook is a smooth, he's a smooth guy. Things look pretty effortless to him. He's still learning some of the concepts that we run. He's got a great personality, great fit, eager to learn, learns ball very, very quickly. So those are the things that stand out right now. We'll watch the film a little bit later so I can really dive into the inside run periods that we had and some of the team stuff," said Elliot.

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