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First Scott Stadium practice for Tony Elliott: ‘This is actually real’

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Virginia head football coach Tony Elliott on the first day of spring practice. Photo courtesy UVA Athletics.

Tony Elliott and Virginia Football had their first Scott Stadium spring practice on Saturday. Elliott has coached in national championship games, but this, this was new.

“Yeah, so the first time it was pretty cool, kind of sunk in, like, Man, wow, this is really happening,” said Elliott, who is in his first year as the new Virginia coach.

His message for his players ahead of the first stadium practice: “We’re on sacred ground. There’s a lot of former players that got blood, sweat and tears equity in that field, and when we step on the grass in Scott Stadium, there’s a certain standard that we’ve got to play to.”

“It’s really starting to settle in and become real for me,” Elliott said. “When I stand out there and you see your team practicing in the stadium, and you’ve got the music going, and you’ve got some recruits that kind of make up your fan base for practice, it was pretty cool today. I had a moment where I just kind of stood down by the scoreboard side and just kind of looked out and was like, Man, this is actually real.”

Down to business, Elliott and his staff are using the spring to install a new offense and new defense, which means both units are works in progress.

Elliott thinks the defense, under new coordinator John Rudzinski, is right now ahead of the offense, under new coordinator Des Kitchings.

“Defensively, there’s been a ton of energy. Obviously, I know that kind of the perspective of the defense last year but I tell you what those guys have been impressive so far. Just, you can tell Coach Rud coaches with a lot of energy. The guys are feeding off of it,” Elliott said.

“Offensively it is a little bit tougher, because there’s a lot more details offensively, and we don’t have quite as many offensive linemen as we would like. So, from a depth standpoint, those guys are getting worn out really quickly with the pace of practice,” said Elliott, whose offensive line unit will be bolstered this summer with the addition of two grad transfers, John Paul Flores (Dartmouth) and Mac Hollensteiner (Georgetown), both tackles who will be expected to compete for starting jobs in fall camp.

“You know, it’s happening a little faster on defense. A lot of times on defense, you just got to get those guys lined up. You get them lined up, they have a chance,” Elliott said. “Offensive football, it’s a lot of communication. And Coach Rud does a good job of changing fronts, and anytime you move a defender five inches, on the offensive line, all the calls change, and with the depth issues that we have, we don’t have the continuity.

“So, what’s happening is it’s just taking a little bit longer for things to come together up front, not because they’re not working hard or they don’t want to, it’s just it’s difficult. And to be effective on offense, it starts with the five guys up front, and we’ve had guys up and down with a couple of guys sick and out.”

Basically, “it’s just a function of depth, more so than the guys not being able to grasp the install,” Elliott said.

“This is a different spring than, let’s say, next spring, because you’re installing the offense, and you’re trying to see what the guys are capable of, you’re trying to see what fits your personnel,” Elliott said. “You’re exposing them to a huddle, where you want to have that element of your offense. We may not be in the huddle a bunch, but you want to install that, and you want to have your complementary plays from the huddle. Then each run scheme, you want to have your naked, your play passes, all those things off of it. So, the volume right now is diverse, but once we get to the season or gameplan, you’ll pare it down, and then you’ll be able to pull from what you did in the spring or fall camp to be able to fit the defensive structure that you’re going against.”

Elliott high on Hollins

Among the running backs, Mike Hollins was a “pleasant surprise,” said Elliott, who was, in addition to being offensive coordinator at Clemson, the program’s running backs coach, his best-known charge there being two-time ACC Offensive Player of the Year Travis Etienne.

Hollins, like the rest of the running backs unit, was an afterthought last year in former OC Robert Anae’s offense.

Hollins ran 49 times for 213 yards and two TDs in nine games in 2021.

The 49 carries were the second-most among UVA’s running backs last season.

Hollins “is a guy that I’ve been challenging really, really hard in practice,” Elliott said. “Very talented, but has to improve his practice habits and just his demeanor in practice. But today, I guess he’s a gamer, so to speak. And then when we got off the field, I saw a couple of runs that caught my attention.”

Elliott on Fields, Davis

Malachi Fields is an intriguing prospect as a 6’4” sophomore wideout. That unit is deep with returning talent, but Fields is standing out in the spring as a guy who could get more snaps in 2022.

“I tell you what, he’s flashed a little bit here this spring,” Elliott said. “He’s a guy that has got ability, he’s a high-character young man, has great leadership qualities, and so it’s good to see him have some success on the field thus far this spring.”

Fields had 11 catches on 15 targets for 179 yards in 2021, getting on the field for 144 snaps in 11 games.

Fields, according to Elliott, is pushing redshirt sophomore Lavel Davis Jr., the 6’7” speedster who is coming back from an ACL tear suffered last year.

“Everybody knows, and it’s been made known in front of the team, that Malachi’s pushing Lavel, which is going to be good for Lavel, because it’s going to make him better,” Elliott said. “Obviously, he’s coming off of injury, and he’s still knocking the rust off, but what you’re seeing is, Malachi plays fast, he’s a big, physical guy, he’s very conscientious, doesn’t say a whole lot. He just shows up and makes plays.

“I’m very, very, very pleasantly pleased with Malachi, and then when you have a combination of like him and Lavel, and you can put them into the boundary, and then you throw (Dontayvion) Wicks over there and you change up the speed, that’s probably what Brennan (Armstrong) is talking about, the diversity. In this system, you can put guys wherever you want to put them to create matchups and isolate and then obviously change up the personnel and the speed on different defenders.”

Story by Chris Graham

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