Tough task

Sep 18, 2026 By Spencer Ripchik 4 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In 2020, York, Pennsylvania, quarterback Beau Pribula was looking for a place to play college football. West Virginia head coach Neal Brown was in hot pursuit. Brown was looking at the 3-star, who was ranked the 14th-best player in the state for the 2022 class, to be his next starting quarterback.

But Pribula chose to stay in state and picked Penn State. The Mountaineers’ quarterback for the class of 2022 was Nicco Marchiol, who is now at Northwestern.

Pribula didn’t play much at Penn State, sitting behind 5-star Drew Allar, and transferred to Missouri before the 2025 season. He won the starting job and flashed early for the Tigers. Pribula led Missouri to a 5-0 start, and his performance earned him some Heisman Trophy buzz. Pribula had the Tigers ranked No. 14 going into a matchup with No. 8 Alabama. Pribula kept it close, but couldn’t pull off the upset, losing 27-24. He suffered an injury that kept him out a little, but made Missouri competitive in every game he played.

Missouri had talented quarterbacks coming in, so Pribula opted to transfer again. His dual-threat talent drew interest from several schools, including the Mountaineers again, according to defensive coordinator Zac Alley, but he picked Virginia. WVU added Oklahoma transfer Mike Hawkins Jr. instead.

Pribula won the job over former Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein, and leads No. 25 Virginia (2-0) into a matchup against West Virginia (2-0) Saturday in Charlotte for the Duke’s Mayo Classic at 7:30 p.m. on ACC Network.

“They’re going to play with all 11 with him,” Rich Rodriguez said. “He’s a big physical runner. He’s got experience, and so I don’t know if you’re going to trick him or anything like that.”

Through two games against N.C. State and Norfolk State, Pribula has showcased his ability to run and throw. He only threw the ball 11 times against the Wolfpack in the season-opener, but two of those passes were for touchdowns, including a 47-yard strike. He didn’t throw much against Norfolk State in Week 3 either. He completed 12 of 14 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns.

Virginia was dominating so much; Pribula didn’t really have to throw the ball.

“There’s like a misdemeanor that they don’t throw the ball,” Alley said. “I wouldn’t throw the ball if I didn’t have to either. Neither the first two games they didn’t have to.”

Instead, Pribula hurt teams with his legs. Against N.C. State, Pribula carried the ball 15 times for 110 yards. Some of that was from scrambling and other times, it was on designed runs.

Rodriguez said a key to stopping him on the ground is making sure the defense is in the right spots to start, then get off the blocks and, most importantly, wrap up and bring him to the ground.

“That’s going to be the key with tackling him and those running backs they got,” Rodriguez said.

Luckily, WVU’s defense has a lot of practice against a mobile quarterback. Rodriguez’s offense has a lot of quarterback-designed runs and read options. The three quarterbacks on the depth chart, Hawkins, Scotty Fox Jr. and true freshman Jyron Hughley, are all quick and shifty.

The only issue is Virginia’s offense is a bit different, so it’s not a one-to-one scout.

“​​We see that in practice every day,” Alley said. “There’s some similar pass concepts, but they’re not necessarily, I would say, similar offenses overall. They’re going to probably huddle and go slow the entire game and try to keep our offense off the field, and we’re going to go fast. Some of it’s a little bit different, in my opinion.”

WVU’s defense already has experience facing a scrambling quarterback. In Week 1, Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey was hard to bring down. The Chanticleers didn’t have a lot of designed runs, but Bailey would roll out of the pocket, extending the play, finding open receivers.

Bailey threw for 373 yards and led Coastal Carolina on a comeback that made the game close in the end, 31-24. Once again, containment is going to be crucial.

“We’re conscious of it,” Alley said. “We were certainly more conscious of it in the last game. If you keep him in the pocket, I think that’s our advantage. But we’ll see how it goes.”

If the Mountaineers haven’t adjusted after facing Bailey, it’ll really show against Pribula. Pribula’s more experienced, a more capable passer and will carry the ball a lot more. It’ll really test the defense.

Linebacker Ben Cutter believes the team is prepared for the challenge.

“He’s a good athlete,” Cutter said. “Nothing that we can’t handle, though. We can contain him, and we’re not worried about him scrambling too much.”