Since Tony Elliott took the helm of the Virginia football program in December, much of his work has been away from the field and even the 14 practices held this spring have occurred mostly out of the public eye. Fans finally get to see the product on the field for the first time this weekend as the countdown to the Spring Game dropped below 48 hours.
The Cavaliers play their Blue-White game on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Scott Stadium. Admission and parking are free. The team will reinstate the Wahoo Walk prior to the game, entering from the stadium’s southeast corner off Whitehead Road. Other fan activities are in place as well, including youth activities on the field prior to the game and autographs on the field afterward.
The game will be televised on the ACC Network and pre-production meetings were part of the weekly preparation. When asked if it was important to have fan support at the game now and into the future, Elliott said it is part of a building process.
“Definitely. If you think about it, if you look at the college game, there’s no preseason games. There was some talk about some possible isolated scrimmages, but right now we compete and prepare against ourselves the entire year other than the 12 games we’re guaranteed,” Elliott said. “So this is an opportunity to create a game-like environment for those guys. So it’s a big deal to me to have a good crowd, create the energy because the game is different than practice. 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 their focus and not get distracted by what’s going on.”
In that sense, the spring game – the 15th practice allowed by NCAA rules – is another evaluation tool for the coaches, but with different surroundings in play. Maybe one practice gets held with some wind. Maybe another features music blaring loudly to simulate a loud road venue. This practice gets conducted in front of a live audience.
Elliott said that the 15th practice is different than the 7th in terms of execution expectations – the players have had more reps at that point after all – but that it isn’t weighted too differently in his mind. Evaluation and competition are ongoing and will continue into the summer, fall camp, and then into the season.
So far, the Virginia coaches have had two and a half live scrimmages plus some other periodic live practice periods to break down and study the student-athletes in game-like settings. The first one was the first for the players with new coaches and was not as informative as the others to date because things were still moving fast for the players as they adjusted to new schemes, terminology, and tempo. One area of notable improvement for Elliott was with the defensive line’s use of its hands during those first scrimmages.
For the final step in spring practice at the Blue-White game at Virginia, some players will not be available. Some Hoos not playing Saturday include receiver Billy Kemp IV, defensive back Darrius Bratton, linebacker Hunter Stewart, quarterback Jay Woolfolk, kicker Justin Duenkel, defensive back Jonas Sanker, running back Ronnie Walker Jr., linebacker Kendall Cross, snapper Lee Dudley, offensive lineman Derek Devine, offensive lineman Logan Taylor, offensive lineman Zachary Teter, offensive lineman Colby McGhee, receiver Luke Wentz, receiver Nathaniel Beal III, defensive lineman Lorenz Terry, defensive lineman Jack Camper, and defensive lineman Bryce Carter. Most of those players should be ready by fall camp according to Elliott with the exceptions of Walker Jr. and Duenkel, though Carter may not be ready either.
The roster depth situation for Virginia made it tough to split up the teams so some players may flip flop to each team during the day.
“Just getting the jersey number situation was oh my gosh,” Elliott said laughing.
With Duenkel and Dudley out, it means Brendan Farrell will be kicking field goals, punting, and doing kickoff duty while Luke Byrne will handle the long-snapper duties. Elliott said they’ve “got to do it all” this weekend. That includes playing for both the Blue and the White teams. Notably, there are four offensive linemen on the list so some of them will be in that two-team mode too. That includes the two tackles Jonathan Leech and Charlie Patterson, who have been picking up extra reps at those spots for much of the spring anyway. Devine, one of the elder leaders in the group, is day to day and will be held out to take it slow and make sure with a foot injury.
The varying injury and depth issues have presented challenges throughout the spring. Virginia has not had a full two-deep available on the offensive line so a player like Jestus Johnson III has played each of center, guard, and tackle for example. At running back, only two players, Mike Hollins and Amaad Foston, have been available for the last two weeks or so for carries.
Even at quarterback, Brennan Armstrong is the only experienced option. Elliott said Armstrong has “done a good job” this spring as the offense changes over. Otherwise, walk-on Jared Rayman and early enrollee freshman Davis Lane Jr. are the only others also available for UVA at QB right now. Jay Woolfolk has dropped into practices, but is focused on baseball this spring. Armstrong will see time with both the Blue and White teams in Saturday’s game.
Still, Elliott said that the Virginia program hit a lot of the boxes he wanted to check this spring.
“For the most part, yes,” Elliott said. “It was a little difficult with the depth on the offensive line. Probably didn’t get as much live work as I wanted, but we did get some good competitive stuff, enough to evaluate. Biggest thing for me as I’ve said before is the big picture things. Really establishing the core values and practice habits, fundamentals, the tempo at which we practice, the organization, the structure – those were the things that were most important for me. Schematically, I let [Des Kitchings] and I let [John Rudzinski] do what they needed to do, I was just focusing more big picture.”
