and most of our transfers, albeit from great programs that recruit top talent, are also young and inexperienced.

do not need this. We need to be outside the "others receiving votes" footnote thingy on these rankings. Not because we aren't in the top 30-35, I think we are - we just don't need any outside distractions, predictions, etc. as this totally new team and staff tries to put Humpty Dumpty back together. Let's get to the spring game and see if everyone knows where the bathrooms are located and see where we are on injuries and position moves and then we will just go step by step. Again - I get the enthusiam and good will, we just don't need that right now. I'd rather finish Top 15 than start Top 15. MTH

Alpha is a unlearnt (macho-dum-dum) term... Would you rather be ahead at the Begin All or at the End All?? 💯, b.street

of that is young inexperienced talent…It’s going to take a season for those OL and DL to grow. Also, I hope our evaluation on the transfer prospects in the secondary is really good because I dont see the talent in the program currently to field a top tier defense. We were really really bad defensively this year. On top of that, our schedule is really rough in the away games. 8 wins and a potential Top 25 season would be really good this year given that we won 3 games this past season. If you’re expecting more, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

This coming season Top 15 for the reasons you stated plus others like major injury to Grunk, etc.

They pulled 28 transfers in, barely covering 20 transfers out but their #97 ranked (247) 2026 recruiting class of 12 lukewarm bodies likely isn’t enough for a full roster. Send recruiters into the basketball stands. The numbers always work.

Just beat them here next year at home is all I really give a HOOt about.

Pribula was not in the top 100 for QBR against conference opponents. Drones had a better QBR vs teams with winning records.

beat Pribula out for the job. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Holstein gets wooed to Duke (that is, if he hasn’t signed with DSU yet).

To start, the defense is going to be legit. The secondary was strong in what was returning and now 4 legit P4 starters are joining (1 S from Michigan, 1 CB from Rutgers, 1 CB from Wisconsin and Ellis from yall). The D Line has been refirmed (two starters from UAB and all-AAC from ECU at DT, adding to the bevy of edge rushers) and the LB room is going to be strong (Maddox returned, multiple guys who showed well at end of year last year with larger roles). Offensively, Pribula has the same rep as Morris, it’s obvious there is talent, but how will it translate. Think the offense will look different but getting an 8-4 SEC QB from a top 20 team? Yeah that’ll work. Taylor was replaced by another 1000 yard rusher from MTSU. Add Peyton Lewis to Xavier Brown and Xay Davis and truthfully the running back room as a whole may be better than last year. At TE Twitty returns and gets added to John Rogers and a transfer from UNC (blocker), WR Edrine was retained along with Kam Courtney and added multiple producers from the lower level. The Oline is legit - UVA’s best two olineman (by coaches admission after practices began) didn’t play last year and were resigned. Got two others from the USCs to further fill out the 2 deep and retained the “6th Oline” in Hartsoe. UVA is returning 3 true starters and adding in two who would have started. The biggest thing is uva retained basically all but two players they had to retain (Harris and Osborne). Prevard was already losing snaps to the true freshman who has replaced him (Costner). The defense was already great under Rud last year and literally got better at in the secondary and will basically be even at LB and DLine. The offense will go as the QB goes, I agree. But on paper, this class is legit. It is the opposite of yalls. Yalls is legit on what they “should” become. But not a ton of true production of was added. UVA is legit on players who will contribute day 1.

They will be back to a trash program in no time.

I think your assessment is a fair take on the Hoos for next year. The part I think you may have miscalculated is the value of Chandler Morrris. To me he was the key to your season and without him, UVA would have been middle of the pack. In my assessment he was the most valuable QB in the ACC last year. I don’t see either of the QB’s you all signed in the portal coming close to Morris.

Kitchings struck gold with Morris and Pribula, no matter how you cut it, won't be close to as productive in the passing game. The UVA defense will be solid, if not good. But remember ladies and gentlemen... the Wahoos played the easiest ACC schedule and still needed miracles to beat some of the worst teams on that schedule.

got extended. One of the worst coaches in the ACC

Clearly Tony Elliot, despite the cupcake schedule, did one helluva job last year. You can't be one of the worst coaches in the ACC and do what he did.

of their schedule more than their talent. That being said last years squad could of easily been a 4 or 5 loss team. Luckily for them they have a similar schedule next year so yes they could get similar results. Not saying they had a bad portal class though. They did lose the O Line coach and Kam Robinson is a question mark on being able to play at least to start next year.

You had a really good defense last year, and I’m sure it will be good in 2026. I think you are a little too rosy on your Pribula assessment, and offense in general. And your next to last sentence is kinda outta whack IMO. If you look at On3’s evaluation/rating of VT’s incoming transfers vs. outgoing transfers, the gap is tremendous (5th best in the country according to On3). All this to say, none of this talk means jack squat. As a wise coach once said, “we’ll take ours and play yours.” We will see.

But I find fault with just assuming these redshirts and players who have never played will be able to step in and play and be legit. Sure great ratings and players with obvious potential. But how many 247 .95 four stars never panned out……. Nevertheless, it’s a legit class on that alone. Does it work? Who knows as you say. UVAs approach already has proof of concept. All but two players who could be retained were retained. In my opinion, tech in two years is scary (assuming retention occurs). But uva next season is in better position to win.

I think anyone denying how great of a job CTE did last season doesn't really understand football. That being said, there is next to zero P4 talent on the UVA roster outside of whatever transfers pan out. He has done a historically poor job at recruiting high school players and developing them. What that means is that he needs every single transfer to pan out to be a productive ACC player. He did it once. But banking on that happening year over year isn't something that is sustainable. James Franklin, on the other hand, has loaded the boat with talent. To your point, it is young and relatively unproven. But the talent is undeniable. Can he get these guys to gel early and get these young players ready to go? That will be a tall task in 2026. What I think you'll see is a really competitive team that isn't always on the same page... A somewhat vanilla scheme early with more complexity later in the season... A team that grows throughout the season with a lot of to look forward to in 2027.

Sure, they return more experience but will have to churn portal additions and hit it every year. VT will struggle with youth but Franklin is building for the long run with a sustainable model