The guys I sit next to in the press box have been wondering for a while why Mike Hollins doesn’t get more time in the Virginia backfield.
New Virginia football coach Tony Elliott has made Hollins, a 5’9”, 208-pound junior, a sort of personal project, without any guarantees in terms of playing time.
“I’m still challenging him. Again, talented, but he’s got to become more detail-oriented,” Elliott said after practice on Monday.
Elliott, a former running backs coach and offensive coordinator at Clemson, has made it clear that he wants to get more from the ground game in general.
Elliott ran as close to a 50/50 offense at Clemson as you will see. Robert Anae, the offensive coordinator at Virginia under Bronco Mendenhall, meanwhile, called runs on just 27 percent of UVA’s offensive snaps last season.
That didn’t leave a lot for the running backs, who combined for just 148 rushing attempts in 2021, basically 12 touches per game.
Hollins ran the ball 49 times, second among the backs last season, for 213 yards and two touchdowns.
The former three-star recruit ran for 1,645 yards and 33 touchdowns as a high-school senior in Baton Rouge, La., with an MVP performance in the 2018 3A state championship game for University Lab High School, in which he ran for 237 yards and scored five TDs.
As it stands now, Hollins would appear to be behind 5’8, 180-pound senior Perris Jones on the running back depth chart. Elliott said Monday that Jones “has actually been the guy that’s been kind of trying to separate himself by doing the little things right.”
Jones, a former walk-on, has three career rushing attempts, all in 2020, with the bulk of his career snaps to date coming on special teams.
Also pushing for snaps in the backfield rotation is Miami transfer Cody Brown, a 5’10”, 227-pound sophomore who was a four-star prep recruit.
“Yeah, Cody, you know, a little different change of pace coming here. Very talented. Still learning the playbook, still has to work on the details, need him to catch the ball a little bit better,” Elliott said. “I think a lot of it is, everything’s just spinning for him right now, new terminology. He wasn’t here in the spring, but he’s a one cut and get down here kind of guy with some with some violence behind him. We just got to get him going in the right direction.”
The best guy is going to play, Elliott said, so the job is up for grabs.
“I told the team, and told Perris in front of the team, that if you want the job, go take the job,” Elliott said. “I don’t care if you came here as a walk-on, if you’re the best guy, then that’s going to be your job. So hopefully that’ll light a fire in Mike. We know we’re going to need Mike. I just need him to be his best in order for us to establish the run. We’ve got to have multiple guys playing at playing at a high level, not just one.”
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Chris Graham
