UVA Football coach Tony Elliott is cognizant of Virginia Tech’s ability to chew up yards – and clock – on the ground.
“They stress you with their scheme,” Elliott, putting on his old play-calling hat, told reporters at his weekly presser on Tuesday. “They’re going to pull you apart. They’re going to cut your defense at some point. All of their backs, plus the quarterback, can run through a single tackler. So, you’re gonna have to swarm and gang (tackle), hit these guys low, get them on the ground.”
ICYMI
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Gotta stop the run with the Hokies (3-8, 2-5 ACC), indeed, but that’s easier said than done.
Tech, for instance, put up 194 yards on the ground in its 34-17 loss to Miami last week. I point that out because the ‘Canes, #1 in the ACC and sixth nationally in rushing defense this season, had been giving up 81.8 rushing yards per game going in.
Virginia Tech has averaged 210.5 rushing yards per game since Philip Montgomery was named the interim head coach two months ago, elevating him from his offensive coordinator post after the guy who had hired him in February, Brent Pry, was fired following the rough 0-3 start to the 2025 season.
Montgomery said this week that the biggest thing with the turnaround on offense for his team has been “trying to get healthy up front.”
“When we first went through the transition of it all, one of those games, I think we had four freshman playing up front, and then it was just gradually getting guys back and getting healthy and then finding the right combination of those five guys as they got on the field. And then you started to see the progress that we were making there and knew that it could potentially be a strength of ours. And so, I think we’ve tried to build on that strength throughout the weeks, and those guys have really stepped up to the challenge of that,” Montgomery said.
The distribution of runs and passes is an indicator of the different mindset that Montgomery has with his offense – since he stepped up to the interim role, the offense has run on 60.9 percent of its snaps; with Pry as the head coach, the offense ran on 49.8 percent of its snaps.
The key to the game-planning is senior QB Kyron Drones, who is only OK as a passer (58.2 percent completion rate, 167.4 yards/game, 16 TDs/7 INTs), but at 6’2”, 235, is a beast in the read-option, with 774 sack-adjusted rushing yards and nine TDs on the ground.
If the edge guys at the line of scrimmage focus too much on the backs, Drones will tuck the ball and run – and with his size, he can run through you.
He has to be focal point #1.
“That’s what I would do. I would make you stop the run,” Elliott said. “I told the guys, at any given point, they got about 440 pounds of running back in the backfield, between the tailbacks and the quarterback. But the quarterback has the ability to throw, too. So, you got to play assignment-sound football.”
A question mark, at this writing, is the status of lead tailback Marcellous Hawkins (744 yards, 6.3 yards/attempt), who was listed as questionable on the Hokies’ availability report Thursday night.
Montgomery seemed to hint to that with Hawkins at his Tuesday presser.
“Yeah, we’ll see how the week goes,” Montgomery said on Tuesday. “He did some good things today, but we’ll see how it all progresses with all those guys. We had a very physical ballgame the other night. I’m sure you felt it. And so, you’ve got a a short amount of time to get back and right now, it’s about getting as healthy as you can and being able to step out there on that field and go compete.”
If Hawkins isn’t able to go, or is limited, the next-man-up is grad transfer Terion Stewart (447 yards, 6.0 yards/attempt), who is more than capable of being the lead guy – he rushed for 1,670 yards and 14 TDs as a junior and senior at Bowling Green in 2023 and 2024, and he put up 174 yards on 15 attempts in the 23-21 Tech win at NC State back in Week 5.
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Virginia (9-2, 6-1 ACC) is an 8.5-point favorite going in, but Tech’s ability to play smashmouth football gives the Hokies a puncher’s chance.
“They’re playing hard, and that’s a credit to Coach Montgomery and the staff in that situation to have the guys still showing up every week and playing hard,” Elliott said. “Every game has been competitive, you know, to a certain point, and they found a way to win a couple games. I think areas where you can see possibly some improvement, it’s just consistency, right? I think in putting together drives and not giving up a big play here and there, the ball not bouncing their way. a couple of times. But we’re anticipating that we’re going to get their best effort, their best focus, their best attention to detail in this game.”
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Chris Graham
