UVA Football: Kitchings discusses challenge of prepping for new Coastal Carolina D

UVA Football grounded and pounded the Coastal Carolina defense in the 43-24 win in Myrtle Beach last September.

The ‘Hoos put up 384 yards on the ground, running the ball on 58 of the offense’s 81 plays from scrimmage.

But you can throw away the game tape from that one, because CCU head coach Tim Beck, after the season, got rid of his defensive coordinator, Craig Naiver, and replaced him with Jeremiah Johnson, whose defense at Louisiana Tech ranked 12th nationally in 2024.

“Pretty well-documented, the D coordinator has done a good job in his history, right? And he’s very adamant about stopping the run. I mean, I think he’s got a quote that there’s three things guaranteed in life, right, death taxes and stopping the run. So, we know who we’ll be facing, you know, from that mindset of who Coastal wants to be on defense,” UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said this week.

There’s still a week of training camp left before the focus turns to game planning for Coastal, the opponent in the season opener on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Scott Stadium.

A reporter at the press avail for Kitchings this week noted to him that Virginia’s first five opponents in 2025 have new defensive coordinators, which no doubt threw a number of monkey wrenches into the offseason prep for Kitchings and his offensive staff.

Complicating things there is the churn that everybody is experiencing right now with the transfer portal.

In the old days – you know, a couple of years ago and beyond back into history – the emphasis was on having a base of returning starters and two-deep guys, with a mix of young guys working their way in.

The old days are gone; widespread change is the name of the game.

“Their personnel is going to be different, but, like, our personnel is gonna be different,” Kitchings said. “So, you know, not necessarily knowing, we know who some guys that Coastal, in our first game, have brought in as transfers. You try to look at some of their film from the previous institution, and best guess, how is it going to look with their new staff? But really, just try to look to see what’s the history of that coordinator, you know, is there something that consistently shows up over his tenure that you try to find the best leverage and opportunity you can for your guys.

“But on top of that as well, it’s really about us, you know, and that’s got to be our mindset going into this first one, as we’re still in the middle of camp, is improving UVA, right?” Kitchings said. “Improving ourselves offensively. And then, you know, whatever that game plan is, we know it’s gonna be some adjustments, right, in that and just be ready to go when that time comes.”