CHARLOTTESVILLE — Part of Virginia’s post-spring transfer portal plan was to target a running back.
The Cavaliers zeroed in on Colorado’s Isaiah Augustave, the Buffaloes’ leading rusher in 2024, and landed the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder.
Augustave committed to UVa on Sunday, sources confirmed to The Daily Progress. He arrived in Charlottesville for a visit on Thursday — the same day Colorado coach Deion Sanders called UVa out for tampering.
But Augustave left the Colorado program earlier this month and entered the transfer portal earlier this week. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
This past fall for the Buffaloes, he rushed for 384 yards and four touchdowns on 85 attempts. Augustave also made 11 catches for 62 yards. He was the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week for his 91 yards on 22 attempts during Colorado’s win over Cincinnati in late October.
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In November, Augustave logged a career-long 37-yard touchdown run to help the Buffaloes knock off Utah.
The native of Naples, Florida, began his college career at Arkansas, and while with the Razorbacks, he played in 11 games as a true freshman in 2023. That season, he rushed for 202 yards, including 101 yards on 14 carries against Florida International.
At UVa, he’ll join a strong tandem of veteran Xavier Brown and FCS North Carolina Central transfer J’Mari Taylor, who paired well together during the spring. Last fall, Taylor became NCCU’s first 1,000-yard rusher in nearly two decades with his 1,146 yards on the ground to go along with 15 rushing scores. Brown racked up 488 yards in 2024, and his 6.1 yards-per-carry rate was the best on the team.
With the addition of Augustave, the Cavaliers give themselves a third option at the position and protect themselves from injuries at running back.
Sources: UVa adds OL Unamba
Virginia was a finalist for Wallace Unamba this past December, losing out to Kentucky for the offensive lineman.
After a short stay in Lexington, though, Unamba re-entered the transfer portal and picked the Hoos this time around.
The 6-foot-4, 330-pound tackle, who spent the 2024 campaign at New Mexico, signed with UVa on Sunday, sources confirmed to The Daily Progress.
The Cavaliers have a need for Unamba, too, considering they lost Louisville transfer offensive tackle Monroe Mills to a season-ending injury earlier in the spring and former UVa starting right tackle Blake Steen exited through the transfer portal on Wednesday.
Unamba did not allow a sack last season while with the Lobos.
He didn’t allow any sacks either in two of his three years at Kilgore Community College (Texas), where he made history as a three-time junior college All-American ahead of redshirting in 2023 at Florida Atlantic and transferring to New Mexico before last fall. Unamba spent an additional campaign at Kilgore, because the 2020 COVID season didn’t count against his junior college eligibility.
