We’re coming up on two years since the Nov. 13, 2022, mass shooting that killed UVA Football players Devon Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry.
I’ve seen the word anniversary associated with this.
Anniversary doesn’t fit here, anywhere close.
Two years comes up this week as the football team of 2024 is getting ready for a road trip to South Bend to play #10 Notre Dame.
The 2023 season for UVA Football was a season of uncomfortable firsts – first spring practice since the shooting, first spring game since the shooting, first regular-season game since the shooting, first home game since the shooting.
Road opponents wanted to honor Chandler, Davis and Perry – and Mike Hollins, who was seriously wounded, recovered and played his senior season in 2023.
A fifth UVA student, Marlee Morgan, a Commerce major, was also seriously wounded, and recovered.
2023 was a season of mourning as much as it was football.
College football in the perpetual free-agent era being what it is, the 2024 UVA Football team has already turned over roughly half the roster from two years ago.
That still means roughly half the kids suiting up for practice tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, two years to that awful day, and most of the coaches, were here, and will never forget where they were when they got the news, and the last time they were able to interact with their teammates before what happened happened.
“I know the process I’ve had to go through personally just to start the healing process, and still in the healing process from that, and not everybody’s in the same space,” UVA coach Tony Elliott told reporters on Tuesday.
Nov. 13 “is always going to be a part of what we do,” Elliott said.
“There’s never going to be a time where we’re not conscious of it, aware of it, but at the same time, too, in order for us to kind of progress forward, we have to kind of create a normal here, and being sensitive that not everybody was a part of that,” Elliott said.
The University community is going to honor the memories of those lost, with the bells at the UVA Chapel set to toll at 1:55 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, playing the first verse of “Amazing Grace,” followed by three chimes honoring Chandler, Davis and Perry, then a moment of silence.
“Tomorrow is going to be tough for many, and rightfully so. Probably tougher, I wouldn’t say probably, it’s going to be tougher for the Davis family, the Chandler family and the Perry family,” Elliott said. “But I want to embrace their hardship based off of what I believe and what my faith tells me, that I have a responsibility to endure with everybody that I’m associated with and connected with.”
As much as it’s possible, Wednesday will be a practice day as usual, a normal Wednesday in a week of prep for a road game with a Top 10 team.
But you know it’s going to be more than that.
“We’re going to endure tomorrow, but then also, I have an opportunity, too, to bring joy, and the way I do that is come to work every single day, be the best version of myself, and then help this football team be the best version of itself, because I’m pretty sure that all three of those families felt a lot of joy on last Saturday night seeing the Cavaliers go play well and walk away with victory,” Elliott said.
“So, we’ll definitely have the families in our thoughts and prayers, and not just them, it’s going to be a hard day for Mike, because Mike’s still here. It’s going to be a hard day for Marley. All of the students that were on the bus. This community. I mean, it’s going to be a hard day,” Elliott said.
“But what I will say is, we can have confidence knowing that, man, we’ve endured, man, we’ve shown what our character is all about, and now, back when I said we were going to turn tragedy into triumph, we’re kind of coming out of that stage to where now we can walk with some confidence and go bring about the triumph and the beauty that was intended to come out of such a hard and difficult situation,” Elliott said.
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Chris Graham
