The Great Wall of Virginia and ‘Big Boy Football’

Virginia is playing aggressive football. They blasted NC State

Xavier Brown scores a touchdown, and throws up the 'X' to celebrate. | Courtesy Virginia Athletics

"Big boy football."

That was the caption of a social media post by Virginia Athletics, referring to an absolute grind in which the Cavaliers drove and took 12 minutes of game time, capped off with a touchdown — putting the game completely out of reach for NC State.

Big boy football. pic.twitter.com/rx0ys92HFJ

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) August 29, 2026

The three-word caption says it all. 

Virginia has an offensive line composed of graduate students (all five have earned all-conference honors), and an extremely deep running back room as well. The result? An elite run game that can wear down opposing defenses and take control of the entire game. That could be aptly described as “Big Boy Football.”

It starts with the offensive line. The Cavaliers beat the Wolfpack in the trenches again and again and again on that long drive in the second half. Quarterback Beau Pribula had jokes for his veteran offensive line.

“I wanted to get off the field as fast as possible because those guys up front are old, man,” Pribula said. But I think that [drive is] kind of who we are in a sense. That's what we're able to do, and it just opens up so many things when you have guys like that up front that are so experienced and they're they're so level-headed, and they're so easy to work with, and you know we can run the ball and then we can do a bunch of different things off of that.”

Saturday was actually the first regular season game in which all five starters played together. Right tackle Monroe Mills, the top offensive lineman in the portal when he came to Virginia, missed the entire 2025 season. Right guard Makilan Thomas also missed the 2025 season.

The NC State game was the first time Mills and Thomas joined left tackle McKale Boley, left guard Noah Josey and center Drake Metcalf — but it looked as if they had played together for years. 

Entering the 2026 season, this offensive line was regarded as one of the ACC’s best. Phil Steele ranked it as the No. 10 line in the country. The Cavaliers certainly looked worthy of that ranking — and perhaps being ranked even higher. 

I will coin it “The Great Wall of Virginia,” as a group defined by elite play, experience and depth.

The first players mentioned are always the core five starters, but the reserves are also capable of high-quality play. Ben York, Jon Adair, Grant Ellinger, Ryan Brubaker, Noah Hartsoe, Alex Payne and others are all talented enough to be Power Four starters. That is a hugely important fact for this football team. In the event of any injury, there is a backup who can slot in and excel as if he has always been the starter.

So, with The Great Wall of Virginia leading the way, Cavaliers running backs can take over the football game. Saturday, it was Xavier Brown playing the role of the marquee star. 

“We played five guys today, and each one of us can go,” Brown said. “I think that's just kind of a testament to the brotherhood that we built as a group and confidence in one another going in there each and every week. Each of us have confidence in each other and are encouraging each other each and every week, all the way through camp, even in spring ball, all the way up to now.”

Virginia will now take a bye week before hosting Norfolk State Sept. 11 and then travelling to Charlotte, N.C. for a neutral site contest with West Virginia Sept. 19. It will be a while before the Cavaliers play another ACC game — but they sure did put the rest of the conference on notice.

“Really unimaginable the possibilities that can happen with [this run game],” Brown said.