Virginia Football, under new coach Tony Elliott, probably wouldn’t go out on Saturday and be able to hang with, let’s say, Alabama, but good news there: they don’t have to.
Saturday doesn’t get Alabama, even Richmond. It’s Spring Game Saturday, the culmination of Elliott’s first spring practice as a head coach.
The offense has made strides learning a new system, the defense is learning new techniques and alignments.
“With the depth on the offensive line, we probably didn’t get as much live work as I wanted, but we did get some good competitive stuff, enough to evaluate,” Elliott told reporters on Thursday, in a session previewing the Blue-White Scrimmage on Saturday at 4 p.m. (ACC Network).
There’s still a ways to go before the home opener in September with Richmond. The focus in the spring, according to Elliott, was somewhat on X’s and O’s, but it was more about “the big picture things, really establishing the core values and the practice habits and the fundamentals, the tempo at which we practice, the organization.”
“The structure of those were the things that were most important for me, schematically. I let Des and I let Rudz do what they needed to do. I was just focusing more big picture,” Elliott said.
Des is Des Kitchings, the new offensive coordinator. Rudz is John Rudzinski, the new defensive coordinator.
Both have been busy, with their position coaches, focusing on the fundamentals. The offense has more back from last year’s 6-6 team, with record-setting quarterback Brennan Armstrong and wideouts Dontayvion Wicks, Billy Kemp IV and Lavel Davis, the promise of a run game that will actually be used for the first time in forever, if the makeshift offensive line can gel.
The defense, which ranked 13th in the ACC in total yards and 14th in rushing defense a year ago, is still working out the kinks a bit.
“Offensive football, it’s all 11 at the same time with a lot of details, and then they’re really stressed from a formation standpoint, multiple formations, putting in different type of procedures in terms of, you’ve got huddle, then you’ve got no-huddle, then you got tempo, then you got like your four-minute type of offense. So, a lot of details offensively, but I thought they did a good job, the second half of spring, they have really responded. I also thought the defense did a good job of keeping up their energy. I wanted to see how they were going to respond, if they were going to be able to maintain that excitement, that energy day in and day out, and they’ve done a good job,” Elliott said.
The spring game will be a chance to get a sort of final spring term grade on how everybody is progressing.
“The weight that I want to put on is just to see how these guys function in that environment, to give me an indication of, OK, can he transition the fundamentals in the coaching and the scheme work to a competitive situation,” Elliott said. “It’ll be used in evaluation, but it won’t be the end all be all, so to speak. What they did for all 15 practices will be taken into consideration. And truth be told, the evaluation process is going to go on all the way through fall camp and even through the season. You’ll be evaluating from week to week to see which guys give you the best chance.”
The spring game is an important measuring stick at the college level because there are no preseason games to use to get a glimpse of progress.
“There was some talk about some possible isolated scrimmages, but right now we compete and compare prepare against ourselves the entire year, other than the 12 games that we’re guaranteed. So, this is an opportunity to create a game-like environment for those guys,” Elliott said. “It’s a big deal to me to have a good crowd, create the energy, because the game is different than practice, right? You’re trying to stress them as much as you can, in practice, to make the game easier. But then when you get to the game, you have those added elements, and you want to see which guys can maintain the focus and not get distracted by what’s going on in the game.”
The spring has also been a chance for Elliott to welcome back Virginia Football alums to the fold, building ties to the guys of yesteryear who competed for ACC titles, Top 25 rankings and the rest.
“How cool is it that I get to see Heath Miller and Aaron Brooks and Chris Long, guys that were a little bit before me or around my time that went on and played, and to see them come back, and just the passion and the energy and the love that they have for this place,” Elliott said. “I think for us to get to where we want to go as a program that we’ve got to be connected. That’s one of my objectives that I’ve talked about, how do I want people to describe this program? I want us to be a program that, first, we’re authentic, we’re connected, we’re transparent, and we’re about service. And that connectivity that I’m talking about is being connected to the past, because I think these young men that wear the V sabre right now, they need to understand the responsibility that they have to perform to a certain standard based off the guys that came before them. And the connection between those two groups propel you into the future. And then it helps us in recruiting, because now we can identify the type of young men that need to come in and carry the legacy forward.
“I’m excited about tomorrow night, and then Saturday, a little bit before the game, that we’ll have a chance to engage with those guys. My message to them has been really simple. I mean, this isn’t Tony Elliott’s program, and this is Virginia Football, and Virginia Football encompasses everybody. It encompasses everybody that’s in the building that we’re in right now. And the former players are huge, a huge piece of that, just like the fourth side, the fans. That’s why we’re doing the Wahoo Walk. I wanted to bring the Wahoo Walk back to engage the fans, because they’re a big piece of it, the energy that they create the stadium, the players, and the coaches, they feed off of that.”
Elliott has been reaching out to other constituent groups on- and off-Grounds as well.
“We had a faculty appreciation, practice and then a brunch. First of all, this is the University of Virginia, we’re all on the same team, OK, our roles may be different, but it takes all of us for the university to move forward. That was my message to them. And then I wanted the faculty to be able to see these young men in their environment, and then also the players to see the faculty away from the classroom to realize that, hey, they are people just like you, and also to reinforce to the faculty that I understand that they’ve worked their whole lives to be in that position. I’m trying to create a culture where our players respect that, and they want to be engaged in that, and that we can have a working relationship, and we need each other, we need each other move forward,” Elliott said.
“The Black alumni, obviously, that was a cool event to see the turnout there and just let them know that I support them, and we’re all in this thing together, that we’re not isolated, we don’t have our silos,” Elliott said. “And again, that goes back to that connectivity that I was talking about. One of my desires for this program is to be connected to the university, the alums, the community, the rest of the athletic department. It’s pretty cool to see Ralph Sampson out here the other day, and hopefully, I’ll get Tony Bennett out here at one point in time to come up, to come watch practice. I’m going to go over there once we get a little bit closer together. All right, Tony, I’m coming, I’m coming. We’re going to hang out, I guess they’ve got us T-squared, TNT. We’re going to try and see, can we move this thing forward together. I’ve always been a team guy, and we’re all a part of the team, just like we’re a team, you guys who cover Virginia Football, and so, I’ve got a responsibility to help you guys do your job, just like you guys help us and promote what our program is all about.”
Story by Chris Graham
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