By Jerry Ratcliffe
Virginia has lost running back Xavier Brown for the rest of the season with an ACL injury to his knee.
The fourth-year back out of Lexington, Ky., was injured in the Washington State game and had contributed in every game this season. Brown was UVA’s second-leading rusher at the time of his injury and shuts down his 2025 campaign with 241 yards on the ground, a 4.7 yards-per-carry average and one rushing touchdown. Brown also caught 5 passes for 36 yards and a score.
His best game statistically was against Florida State when he had 9 carries for 60 yards. The week before, he rushed a season-high 10 times for 55 yards against Stanford.
“They did confirm that it is an ACL,” Tony Elliott said at his weekly presser on Tuesday. “So he’ll have to have surgery.”
Elliott did get some good news from the medical staff in that starting wide receiver Cam Ross has been cleared to play in UVA’s game at California on Saturday afternoon (3:45 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2).
Ross, a transfer from JMU, is one of the Cavaliers’ most dangerous players, not only as a receiver, but as a kickoff returner.
The graduate student has played in seven games and ranks third on the team in receptions with 28, only a few back of co-leaders Trell Harris and Jahmal Edrine with 32 each. Ross has 329 receiving yards (11.8 yards per catch) and two TD receptions. He also has a rushing touchdown and a school-record, 100-yard kickoff return for a score.
Ross was expected back for the North Carolina game last week but did not play.
“It was something that lingered from the game that we thought we’d be able to push through, and then it resurfaced later in the week,” Elliott said of Ross’ injury. “And so the best thing was to give him a little time to rest and anticipate he’ll be back. He was out [at practice] yesterday getting some work in and I got confirmation from the medical staff that he’ll be out there today working.”
Ross adds a dimension to Virginia’s offense that has been missing the last two weeks in games against Washington State (when he was injured) and at UNC.
Meanwhile, lineman Kevin Wigenton remains out with an ankle injury. Elliott said he hoped it wasn’t season-ending, but that Wigenton will need more recovery time. See Saturday’s full depth chart below.
