While the winter sports season begins the run toward the postseason, college football remains on fans’ minds. Spring practice is right around the corner as Virginia opens its work on Tuesday, March 19 with the Spring Game set for April 20. Plus, the offseason is actually speeding along with kickoff against Richmond on Aug. 31 a little more than six months away.
Hoo fans have jumped in on a few topics this week.
First, running back Mike Hollins received another honor recently when he was selected as the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year. On Thursday night, Witten presented Hollins with the award, given to “the Football Bowl Subdivision player who best demonstrates an outstanding record of leadership by exhibiting exceptional courage, integrity and sportsmanship.” Hollins inspired his teammates, coaches, and people everywhere by returning to the field last season after a tragic shooting took place at UVA in November of 2022. Hollins was shot and hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting, which also took the lives of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry. Hollins finished the 2023 season with 274 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns.
Other topics on the minds of fans included early ACC win total predictions, Tony Elliott, the 2025 schedule, technology approval from the ACC, and the return of EA Sports’ college football game (a trailer was released this week and CavMan made a brief appearance). For win totals, early odds placed UVA at over/under 4.5 wins. That led to Elliott chatter as he tries to build up from just 3 wins last season. For the 2025 schedule, Virginia has both of the California newcomers in ACC play (the school also announced a 2026 non-conference game with Delaware
recently). The ACC approved headset communication and video use during games. You can jump into any of these threads on the message board:
- Early ACC win totals are out ~ hoodeyo
- Carla needs to be working the coaching ranks. ~ djp
- Our 2025 schedule ( attached) doesn’t look too bad. Two Cali teams. ~ Hoogle.com
- News out of ACC winter meetings. ~ Kris
- Cavman makes a split-second appearance on EA Sports college football promo. ~ stuboy
Also on the football front this week, The Sabre profiled offensive lineman Drake Metcalf. The graduate transfer enrolled at UVA in January where he has been reunited with offensive line coach Terry Heffernan, who led that unit at Stanford where Metcalf started his career. Metcalf described his choice to come to Virginia as a unique opportunity. Read the whole article here.
“It’s a really unique opportunity right now for me to not only be able to set myself in the best position to succeed on the football field, but ultimately to set that four for 40 plan down the road with what I want to get into in politics. So it’s a great opportunity now, Coach Elliott has laid the foundation and we want to make sure to uphold the standard,” Metcalf said.
And with that, let’s take a look at the weekly fan picks.
Fan(s) Of The Week
CavMan and friends!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
CavMan and friends, Part 2!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Ryan Dunn drives the basketball for Virginia.
