Virginia football and new NCAA eligibility rules

Five in five.

Three words. Two numbers. They will come to define the newest chapter of the NCAA.

All student-athletes will now receive five years to play up to five seasons. The only exceptions are for pregnancy, active-duty military service or official religious missions. The clock starts with the academic year following the student-athlete's 19th birthday, or enrollment at an institution — whichever comes first.

The new rules are especially impactful in college football. For the past few seasons, sixth-year (or more) seniors have been granted exemptions so often that it has become normalized. Last season, Virginia was led by a quarterback who had been playing college football during COVID-19. It also had a player who was on the roster the last time the Cavaliers beat Virginia Tech in 2019.

But much like the Commonwealth Clash, things change. Here is how five in five affects Virginia:

An extra year for talented stalwarts or promising underclassmen

Barring season-ending injury, transferring or NFL Draft departure, many projected starters just received an extra year at Virginia if they choose to take it. Other than Fisher Camac, Jacobie Henderson and Donavon Platt, the extra year applies to every Cavalier projected to start on defense.

That list: Kam Robinson, Ethan Minter, Corey Costner, Brandyn Hillman, Maddox Marcellus, Matthew Fobbs-White, Jason Hammond and Anthony Britton. Some key defensive reserves could also benefit. That list includes Josiah Persinger, Omillo Agard and Jaylen Jones.

Offensively, the extra-year crew features five of Virginia’s six core running backs — Peyton Lewis, Jekail Middlebrook, Solomon Beebe, Noah Vaughn and Xay Davis. Also included are Kam Courtney, Da’Shawn Martin, John Rogers and five underclassmen receivers.

Building a roster becomes more difficult

A key part of Virginia’s ascension has been its transfer portal scouting. That will not change. However, the market for experienced portal talent will become far more expensive and competitive.

For example, under the new rules, the following players would have been ineligible last season: Chandler Morris, Mitchell Melton, Jahmeer Carter, Drake Metcalf, Brady Wilson, Antonio Clary, Cam Ross, Devin Neal, Harrison Waylee, Daniel Sparks, Monroe Mills and Daniel Rickert.

That is a lengthy list of essential contributors. The Cavaliers have excelled in the transfer portal, but could possibly pivot to focus more on high school talent — especially because those recruits would have a pathway to play five years with the program.

Under Coach Tony Elliott, Virginia has never had a high school class rank higher than No. 46 nationally. The Cavaliers have still found productive players through that route — Kam Robinson, Will Bettridge, Corey Costner and others — but 13 of Virginia’s 22 projected starters were transfers at some point.

In many cases, the more expensive transfers are the ones with multiple years of eligibility remaining. That trend should continue to grow. But while the highly coveted talents will have a massive market, there is still one area in which the Cavaliers are in pole position.

Even so, Virginia is still built to contend — perhaps more than others

The big fish in Elliott’s 2025 transfer class was Mills — ranked as the top offensive tackle and the No. 8 player overall. However, the bigger story is that Cavaliers truly excelled at finding underrated players and developing them into Power Four stars.

Taylor was not ranked among the top 50 running backs in the transfer portal by 247Sports. He ended up earning First Team All-ACC honors. Ross was not ranked as a top-50 receiver, and he became All-ACC Honorable Mention. The same story applies to Melton and Ja’Son Prevard.

A majority of Virginia’s transfers have been absurdly underrated (in hindsight). Elliott, Justin Sperosand the front office have proven that they are capable of finding diamonds in the rough. There are not many other programs in the country who do that as well as the Cavaliers do.

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