Eli Holstein

#10 · QB · 4th-year · Virginia6′4″ · 234 lb · Zachary, LA

Last gameL 7–51at Wake Forest · Oct 31
Nextvs CaliforniaSat Nov 14 · time TBA

Played again at Wake Forest, the first game since Delaware, week 4.

L 7-51 at No. 14 Wake Forest, Oct 31: 12 of 16 for 102 yards · 1 carry for -5 yards.

Virginia’s next game: vs California, Sat Nov 14, 12:00 a.m. ET · ACC Network

282 passing yards in 3 games.
Game 1: against NC State, win 34-8, no pass attempts in this gameWNCSUGame 2: against Norfolk State, win 59-3, 27 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, FCS opponent27WNORFFCSGame 3: against West Virginia, loss 27-38, no pass attempts in this gameLWVUGame 4: against Delaware, win 42-3, 153 passing yards, 1 touchdown153WDELGame 5: at Florida State, loss 7-38, no pass attempts in this gameLFSU@Game 6: against Syracuse, win 28-25, no pass attempts in this gameWSYRGame 7: at SMU, loss 13-23, no pass attempts in this gameLSMU@Game 8: against Duke, loss 16-19, no pass attempts in this gameLDUKEGame 9: at Wake Forest, loss 7-51, 102 passing yards102LWAKE@
Game 1: against NC State, win 34-8, no pass attempts in this gameWNCSUGame 2: against Norfolk State, win 59-3, 27 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, FCS opponentWNORFFCSGame 3: against West Virginia, loss 27-38, no pass attempts in this gameLWVUGame 4: against Delaware, win 42-3, 153 passing yards, 1 touchdown153WDELGame 5: at Florida State, loss 7-38, no pass attempts in this gameLFSU@Game 6: against Syracuse, win 28-25, no pass attempts in this gameWSYRGame 7: at SMU, loss 13-23, no pass attempts in this gameLSMU@Game 8: against Duke, loss 16-19, no pass attempts in this gameLDUKEGame 9: at Wake Forest, loss 7-51, 102 passing yards102LWAKE@
  • touchdown

Wake Forest · L 7-51

102 yards

Open this game

Holstein has pass attempts in 3 of Virginia’s 9 games: none in the other 6.

Dashed line: 300 yards.

Virginia is 4-5.

A play of his this season

  1. Q4, 11:11 · Virginia up 32Eli Holstein finds Josiah Abdullah for a 74-yard touchdownDelaware at Virginia, week 4Q4, 11:11 · Virginia 42, Delaware 37474-yard touchdown pass7474-yard touchdown pass74-yard touchdown passE.Holstein pass complete deep right to J.Abdullah caught at DEL38, for 74 yards to the DEL00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this playESPN College Football

All 3 of his plays on video

The story

As of

The arc is whiplash. Holstein opened 2024 as the breakout nobody saw coming, throwing 17 touchdowns and steering Pitt to 7-0 before a gruesome leg injury at Louisville ended the dream. The 2025 sequel curdled fast: he threw a pick in all four of his early appearances, got pulled against Louisville again, and by October Pat Narduzzi had handed the keys to true freshman Mason Heintschel. Holstein finished the year with 1,081 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions across eight games — and a benching that followed him into the portal.

Read the rest of the story

Virginia bet on the upside. Tony Elliott landed both Holstein and Missouri transfer Beau Pribula in January, and the read around Charlottesville is that Pribula is the favorite while Holstein 'can lead the offense in 2027' — backup framing, in other words. But spring settled nothing. SI and the local beat called it a mixed bag from both, with neither separating, and Elliott declined to name a starter. That leaves a real summer competition, and a real tension: the receipts say Holstein can hit the deep ball and find the end zone at an elite rate — his 94th-percentile passing-touchdown rate and 98th-percentile explosive-pass rate are genuinely top-shelf — but the same 2025 tape shows a 3rd-percentile interception rate that got him benched.

That's the perception-versus-reality knot Virginia fans are untangling all summer: is Holstein a wildly talented gunslinger one healthy season away from being remembered as that 2024 freshman, or a high-variance arm whose ceiling keeps getting undone by turnovers and timing? The forward stake is simple and unglamorous — beat Pribula, or wait until 2027.

Through four games, that question has answered itself: Beau Pribula has taken every start, and Holstein's only reps have come in mop-up duty during blowout wins over Norfolk State and Delaware — zero snaps in the September 19 home loss to West Virginia, the one game all season Virginia actually needed a spark from the position. The wait for 2027 looks like the reality, not the fallback.

Sources

Style of play

Style of play

Play style

Holstein plays like a gunslinger who lives downfield and pays the tax for it. He pushes the ball at a 91st-percentile average depth of target and turns those shots into chunk plays at a 98th-percentile explosive-pass rate, and when he's right he scores — a 100th-percentile passing-touchdown rate. The efficiency underneath is merely solid (82nd percentile in EPA per dropback, 56th in completion percentage), which fits the boom-or-bust profile. The catch is the bust: a 3rd-percentile interception rate, the single number that explains why a player with elite scoring and explosiveness traits found himself on the bench. He's a vertical-shot quarterback whose floor is only as high as his ball security lets it be.

Similar players

Closest statistical matches, adjusted for opponent strength.