Tony Elliott built his Virginia program on right players, not ‘best players.’ It is working

Of the 247Sports top 100 player rankings for the high school Class of 2022, nearly 75% ended up transferring at least once over the past four seasons.

The class did produce a few notable NFL talents — Travis Hunter, Kelvin Banks, David Bailey, Will Campbell and others — but a majority of the class turned out to be busts. That is because ultimately, rankings mean absolutely nothing once players touch grass.

Tony Elliott understands this, and has built his Virginia program on the right players, rather than just pursuing the “best players.”

For example, Malik Washington and Tony Muskett were graded as equal-quality transfers. Washington ended up being one of the nation’s most productive receivers while Muskett was a below-average quarterback.

Kam Robinson was ranked as the No. 24 linebacker nationally in the Class of 2023 — in the end, only two of the players ahead of him reached the NFL while at least 20 of the other 21 have been undeniably inferior to the Cavaliers star.

“And that's what I've asked the staff to do — find the guys that fit,” Elliott said. “Now, do we want the most talented guys? Absolutely. But it's no good to have a guy that's super talented that doesn't fit into your culture because then now that could beat you every single day. So I think for us, the margin is finding guys that want to be at Virginia that are looking for this type of environment.”

Last offseason, Elliott reeled in a transfer class that 247Sports deemed the fourth best in the ACC, with only three four-star transfers — Monroe Mills, Jahmal Edrine and Emmanuel Karnley. North Carolina, one of the ACC’s worst teams, was considered to have a better transfer class than Virginia.

Now, in 2026, the Cavaliers were graded as having the No. 8 transfer class in the ACC. It would be a tremendous surprise if they didn’t significantly outperform that ranking.

“So that's what the scouting staff and the coaches have done a really good job is finding those guys that are really good players, but they're also [a strong] fit,” Elliott said. “Because it's not fair to a young man to bring him into an environment [where] all he wants is football. And if that's the case, it's going to be hard here because of everything else we ask you to do. So for us, it's a little bit less about the NIL margin as it is to find the right fit. And then I'm going to hold the coaches accountable. I'm also not going to run guys off, right?”

Elliott said he learned this style of roster construction at Clemson, where he spent several years as Dabo Swinney’s top assistant coach on offense.

“Not every player could play for Coach Swinney, right?” Elliott said. “And that's no knock on anybody. He requires a different level of attention to detail and sacrifice and commitment. And so I learned early on it's all about fit. There were guys that I wouldn't recruit, even though they were great players, because I knew they wouldn't fit.”

Because Elliott has found players who buy into his beliefs and core values, Virginia has had a cohesive team that is full of veterans, leaders and competitive depth.

Having the right players has led to an 11-win season in 2025. This year, Elliott has said that he feels extremely confident in the roster — and that it has elite depth at every position. Once again, the Cavaliers are flying under the radar as they were ranked No. 47 in the Preseason AP Poll. Elliott might get the last laugh, though. He is preparing for an encore.

“We want to do things the right way,” Elliott said. “We want to be the model program.”

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