UVA Football coach Tony Elliott on tampering: ‘We’re going to recruit the right way’

It seems to be a given that coaches make contact with players at other college programs to try to get them to consider jumping schools via the transfer portal.

Tony Elliott might be putting his UVA Football program at a competitive disadvantage by not playing the game that way, given what everybody assumes is going on around the college football landscape, but it’s hard to fault a guy for wanting to do things above board.

“I know we don’t tamper. We’re going to recruit the right way, and so we’re not going to communicate with young man until he’s actually in the portal,” Elliott told reporters at the program’s annual media day on Friday.

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The media folks had just gotten back from the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, where the issue of tampering was among the more talked-about items in the scrums.

Elliott, to his credit, seemed to play good anti-tampering defense in the offseason. My list of presumed top priorities for the staff included the guys Virginia could not afford to lose to the portal – among them, linebacker Kam Robinson, safety Jonas Sanker, wide receiver Malachi Fields and quarterback Anthony Colandrea.

None of those guys, or the other four on my list – cornerback Dre Walker, left tackle McKale Boley, defensive end Chico Bennett and right tackle Blake Steen – hit the portal; and on top of that, Elliott landed a Top 25 portal class that included wideouts Chris Tyree, Trell Harris and Andre Green, offensive lineman Drake Metcalf and cornerback Kendren Smith.

Elliott conceded that he would “be lying” if he said tampering is not taking place, “but my job is to coach ball right and recruit the right way.”

“I do believe it’s become kind of an unacceptable practice, if that makes sense, and that’s one of the unintended consequences of, you know, the business model,” Elliott said. “But you have a choice, you know, each coach, each program, has a choice as to how they’re going to approach it. And for us, you know, we’re not going to tamper. We’re going to do it the right way. And our guys on our roster being tampered with, I’d have to imagine, you know, that they are, but it hasn’t gotten to the point to where it’s an issue, right. So if it’s not to that level, then I’m not wasting time, you know, trying to, trying to chase down those ghosts.”