Just add water. No assembly required. Set it and forget it. There’s no shortage of quick solution offerings in the world today. That convenience can be quite helpful in many situations. Resetting the defense for the Virginia football team, however, isn’t one of them.

Much of spring practice for the Hoos has taken on the opposite approach. New defensive coordinator John Rudzinski has focused on laying the foundation, outlining the principles, and repeatedly reworking the basics. The goal has not been to instantly put a pristine product on the field just a few days into the new coaching staff’s tenure.

So far, he said he has been pleased with how players have treated the undertaking while acknowledging there is a long ways to go. That applies both to the literal calendar – kickoff isn’t until Sept. 3 – and to the metaphorical growth curve.

“There’s a bunch of guys that are workers, that enjoy the process,” Rudzinski said. “I think they’ve shown it by the way that they’ve worked and understanding that there’s a consistency to the way we all work. If we’re going to be good professionally, if we’re going to be good here in this game, we’ve got to stack days on top of each other. Frankly, it’s not going to be the snap of the fingers or not going to be something we put in the microwave and it’s done. It’s something that we’re going to have to put in the oven, put it on slow roast, and see if we can’t really, really cook it the right way.”

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