Underused Xavier Brown wants to gobble up yardage

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Xavier Brown thinks back every now and then to last fall when he tore up Coastal Carolina’s defense, rushing for 171 yards on only nine carries.

It was the kind of day where Brown would rip off a long run, return to the huddle and tell then-quarterback Anthony Colandrea to “let the big dog eat.”

While that was an exceptional game for Brown, who with that performance became the first Virginia running back to gain 150-plus yards in an outing since 2018 (Jordan Ellis vs. Ohio U), it gave him confidence going forward. The Lexington, Ky., native went on to become UVA’s second-leading rusher on the season with 488 yards (44.4 ypg). He would like to surpass those numbers his senior season coming up.

“Obviously that was a career game and you think back on it, but you don’t dwell on it,” Brown said after practice on Wednesday. “There’s things in that game that I could improve on, to see what I could fix, but I loved that day. It’s a game you dream about in your career.”

Brown is one of several experienced backs battling for the starting job in Virginia’s training camp, which opened a few days ago. There’s also J’Mari Taylor, a fifth-year transfer from North Carolina Central, Harrison Waylee, a sixth-year transfer out of Wyoming, third-year Noah Vaughn, who has been on the Cavaliers’ depth chart, along with a few more lesser-known candidates.

Brown said all those backs feed off each other to keep pushing for improvement.

The 5-foot-10, 198-pound tailback, who appeared in all but the season finale at Virginia Tech (collarbone injury), is hoping to make the decision on playing time easy for the coaching staff.

Some of those coaches have admitted that Brown was underused last season, so it’s up to him to prevent that from happening again.

“The main thing is just staying healthy,” Brown said. “That’s something that’s been part of my history, so just staying healthy. Coach says the best ability is availability, so I’m trying to take care of my body as much as I can, to just stay on the field.”

He has been studying some NFL backs that are his size to see how they take hits and avoid different types of hits to prolong their careers.

Brown has had some big moments, like Coastal, where he had a 70-plus-yard run, had a 47-yard touchdown reception that put UVA ahead of Louisville, and rushed for 52 hard-fought yards (4.7 ypc) vs. a tough Notre Dame defense last season.

Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said there should be an opportunity for Brown to make some noise in training camp as UVA edges toward an Aug. 31 home opener against none other than Coastal Carolina.

“Obviously he’ll get opportunities as a ball carrier, but X is showing the ability to catch the ball, too,” Kitchings said. “When you think about the touchdown that put us ahead against Louisville, we threw the ball to him, he made the guy miss and then went down the field. So there are opportunities for him in that fashion. It’s how can we stretch the defense horizontally, but also, how can we stretch them vertically.”

While last season didn’t live up to Brown’s own expectations, he still benefitted greatly from playing in 11 games, a lot more than the season before when injuries cut his playing time.

“Last year was very important to me,” Brown said. “I just think it was a year for me to really establish myself, especially coming off a year of injuries. I think it gave me the opportunity to put myself out there and show what I can do and give myself a confidence boost to know that I can do more in the future with more opportunities.”

Healthier and more opportunities could give Brown a chance to become the first Virginia running back to gain more than 500 yards on the ground since Ellis back in ‘18. Brown said there’s plenty of candidates in the running backs room who want to surpass that 500-yard mark this season, and believe that an improved offensive line will give them a shot at doing so.

Let the big dogs eat.