As the Virginia football team prepares to begin a new season and play games for the first time since last year’s tragic shooting on Grounds, Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry remain in the hearts of the Cavaliers. UVA coach Tony Elliott reiterated that on Wednesday at the ACC Football Kickoff event in Charlotte.
“They understood that they have a responsibility to Lavel, Devin, and D’Sean to move forward in the right way, not moving on. There’s a difference. That was a big message within the program is we’re not moving on. We’re never going to forget this. We’re not going to put this to the side and act like it didn’t happen,” Elliott said from the podium during the main interview session. “Unfortunately for us, it’s our new normal. It’s a part of our lives and will be a part of our lives forever, and we’ll constantly be reminded of it. There will be tough days, and they have to learn that they have to lean on each other in tough days. They also learned the importance of football, the structure that it provides, the safe haven that it provides, the community that it provides. To watch these guys every single day, they made a decision. The guys that came back in January made a decision to embrace the hard and live it every single day. These guys have done it beyond any expectations that I had of them, and it started with just having an attitude of gratitude and appreciation for life.”
The media setting began with a moment of recognition from the conference on Tuesday. As ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips began his remarks to open the three-day kickoff, he paused to remember the three Hoos that lost their lives after being shot as they returned from a school field trip last November. The trio also received recognition at the NFL Draft in April as the football world continued to support the Virginia program as it returns to competition.
“Before I share some thoughts about the conference and our tremendous student-athletes, I want to pause and remember three important members of the ACC family. At the end of last season we tragically lost Virginia student-athletes Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry,” Phillips said. “There are still no words that can fully express our collective grief over this devastating and senseless loss. Our hearts and prayers remain with their families, teammates, and the entire University of Virginia community. Lavel, Devin, and D’Sean, you will never be forgotten by your ACC family.”
UVA held its annual Spring Game in April so the team has had a chance to take the field once since the tragedy. Still, there will be many milestone types of moments for the team to encounter as the 2023 schedule unfolds. The season opener against Tennessee in Nashville on Sept. 2, the home opener against JMU on Sept. 9, and the ACC opener against NC State on Sept. 22 are all examples. Virginia also has a home game against Duke on Nov. 18, which will occur just a few days after the one-year mark of the players’ deaths.
Elliott thanked everyone who supported the team through the past several months.
“First and foremost, got to thank the college football community, which includes all of you guys and everybody across the country for just the outpour of support. We felt it in Charlottesville. The same thing with the community of Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, our student body. Everybody came to our side immediately,” Elliott said. “While we were in shock trying to regain our footing from what just happened, they held us up in the interim until we could kind of get ourselves grounded and figure out how we’re going to navigate forward.”
Elliott experienced a tragedy in his own childhood when he was in a car crash that took his mother’s life when he was only 9, but even that life experience did not provide a true road map for how to lead the program forward late last year or for the season ahead.
“This situation is unprecedented. There’s no preparation. Even though I experienced tragedy as a young person and throughout the course of my life, it still doesn’t prepare you for a situation like this,” Elliott said. “The way that you get through it is together, and that’s the beauty of football. It’s an ultimate team sport, and it forces you to sacrifice and rely on somebody else. It forces you to do hard things that you may not want to do because you have a connection and a bond and a love for your teammates. So these guys really is what gave me the inspiration to lead because it’s very difficult in a situation like that to know what to say, know what to do, and then to have an understanding of is it working and trying to figure out how to lead not just the players, but the staff and then also the athletic department through that situation.”
Elliott has tried to guide his team through this difficult time with the message of moving forward, but also with the outline that it can be an opportunity to show others how to be resilient, thoughtful, and purposeful through tragedy.
“I think for us that are in it and hopefully going forward anybody that has a connection to our program will see that it’s bigger than us. Ultimately, as we all chase purpose in life. We realize that purpose is not about me. It’s about what I can do for others,” Elliott said. “They didn’t ask for this. University of Virginia didn’t ask for this, but we were given this opportunity. A tremendous challenge, but we were given an opportunity. The opportunity that we see is that we can take something that is unexplainable, unprecedented, very, very difficult. You wouldn’t wish it on anybody, and we can find the beauty of it and use it to inspire others going forward by the way that we respond, by the way that we play, by the way that they live, by the way that they go forward in the future and the individual ways that they decided they wanted to honor the legacies of Lavel, Devin, and D’Sean.”
Thoughts From Tony Elliott On Virginia Defense
During a different interview segment at the ACC Kickoff on the ACC Network, Coach Elliott fielded several questions about the UVA defense. That’s understandable. While the defense did lose some key pieces, there’s also quite a bit of experience back on that side of the ball and the D will likely need to the tone setter if the team is going to surpass low expectations that project in the neighborhood of three wins, which matches last season’s 3-7 record.
The Cavaliers made significant strides statistically in their first year under defensive coordinator John Rudzinski after struggling the previous season. They allowed 24.0 points per game (49th nationally) down from 31.8 (T-103rd) in 2021. They allowed 357.6 yards per game (44th nationally) down from 466.0 (121st) in 2021. They recorded 30 sacks (T-47th) up from 18 (T-113th) in 2021.
The Hoos did come up with just 13 takeaways (T-112th), though, just one less than 2021’s 14 (T-93rd) and that’s one area that Elliott would like to see improve.
“We’ve got to get better at taking away the football. … I think a lot of it too is just a mentality, creating that mentality,” Elliott said on the ACC Network.
Virginia will be trying to do that with some different players in key spots. That includes the secondary where Anthony Johnson (NFL) and Fentrell Cypress II (Florida State) no longer will be the starting cornerbacks. That duo finished 5th (Cypress) and 7th (Johnson) nationally in passes defended per game last season at 1.44 and 1.40, respectively. The Hoos brought in transfers to help restock that room with Malcolm Greene (Clemson), Sam Westfall (SMU), and Tayvonn Kyle (Iowa State) all coming to Charlottesville.
Still, UVA will need to establish more depth in the secondary in Elliott’s mind. “We’ve got to develop some depth on the back end,” he said in the same interview. “Losing AJ and Fentrell on the back end, two All-ACC caliber players at corner, we’ve got to develop some depth there.”
Elliott also praised the versatility of senior Coen King as one player that can help address secondary concerns. King played safety early in his career, but lined up at corner in the spring so he could be an option in either spot. “I’m excited to see him be a guy for us on defense that can play corner and then give us some flexibility as other guys develop to be able to play safety too,” Elliott said on King.
UVA also lost Nick Jackson (Iowa) at middle linebacker as he posted more than 100 tackles for the third straight season and finished 10th nationally at 10.40 tackles per game. That’s a lot of production and leadership to replace, but Elliott did note that he did like how James Jackson (no relation) played in the spring. “Watching him emerge into that role from a leadership standpoint and then also from a production standpoint, I’m excited about him,” Elliott said.
Tony Elliott On No ACC Divisions
The ACC Network crew also asked for Coach Elliott’s thoughts on the new league schedule this season. The ACC decided to do away with the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions in football so the top two teams in the standings will represent the conference in the ACC Championship on Dec. 2 in Charlotte.
It’s the first season since 2005 that the ACC will play without divisions. Elliott liked the old two-division format, but said he also understands why the conference wanted to make the change. Elliott played and coached at Clemson so he’s been around both in his career, though divisions existed throughout his 12 years coaching in the league thus far (2011-2022).
“Being that I’m an ACC guy, played in the ACC, coached in the ACC the majority of my career, I liked the format where you had the divisions because it gave you something else for your team to aspire to,” Elliott said on the ACC Network, “but I also understand the importance of having one division and the top two teams being able to possibly have a chance to advance beyond the ACC Championship. The biggest thing for us is we have our goals set up, that’s one of our goals, but the thing we’ve got to do is focus on the first goal which is to win the season opener.”
Hoo Tube
More from Virginia coach Tony Elliott on his team’s spirit after last year’s tragedy and preparing for the season opener in the program’s first official game back on the field since.
“I’ve seen the hope in the human spirit, what you’re truly capable of when you do things for something bigger than yourself.”@UVAFootball head coach Tony Elliott on how his team is honoring the legacies of D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr. pic.twitter.com/ZLhsEYbRBq
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) July 26, 2023
Love Coach Eliot, the right man at this extraordinary time for UVA football.