Virginia Football Notes: Tony Elliott Wants UVA To Continue To 'Press'

After three weeks of practices and two scrimmages, the Virginia football team is closing in on the end of its preseason work. The Hoos now will start to turn their attention to Coastal Carolina and the first game of the season, scheduled for Saturday, August 30 at 6 p.m. at Scott Stadium.

Just because the preseason phase is winding down though, UVA coach Tony Elliott said he does not want his team to ease up on practice intensity or lose focus on preparing correctly. He referenced a talk the team had with motivational speaker C.L. Shepherd, a former NFL and college player that travels the country speaking to teams at this time of year.

The Cavaliers adopted a word from that presentation that Elliott thinks captures the needed mindset.

“The word was press. We’ve got to press,” Elliott said. “Now’s not the time to let up off the gas seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve got to sprint through the finish line. That’s also symbolic of what we’re going to have to do in the fourth quarter, we’re going to have to press to go win games. Find ways to win and not to lose. I think it all goes back to how you approach practice.”

Some of the team’s recent work in practice has focused on that part of the upcoming games. Virginia spent time both Saturday and Monday on end-game situations, including two-minute drill work at the stadium.

UVA outscored its opponents 97-66 in the fourth quarter last season, but some of the statistics show a need to carry execution deeper into games. The Hoos’ rushing offense averaged 3.91 yards per carry in the first half vs. 3.39 yards per carry in the second half last season, for example. The rushing defense allowed 4.06 yards per carry in the first half vs. 4.19 in the second half as well.

“We’re getting better in understanding situational football and really what it takes to win at the end of the game,” Elliott said. “Some of our four-minute stuff, we had really good two-minute work in the stadium on Saturday and we had some good four-minute work here [Monday] so I think we’re getting better there.”

Overall, Elliott has been mostly pleased with the work this month and noted that “you’re seeing some consistency” from the team. Some of that may be attributed to increased depth across the roster, a major theme of this offseason’s storylines after Virginia brought in 54 new players that included 31 transfers. With multiple groups of offensive linemen and defensive linemen, for example, there has been the ability to roll through reps.

That has created competition with positions across the offensive line and secondary still forming a depth chart. At other positions like running back and defensive line, Elliott expressed confidence in being able to use multiple players regularly. The overall goal being to stay fresher within games and healthier within the season.

“We’re just more consistent with execution so now it’s coming down to winning one-on-one matchups,” Elliott said. “Overall, guys are in position for the most part, all the offensive guys are going in the same direction on the same page, so now we can focus on the fundamental aspect whereas in the past, you’ve got to correct a lot of different schematic things. ... So we’ve been a lot smoother. The guys know how to practice as I said before.”

More Lists For Morris

Virginia brought in quarterback Chandler Morris as a transfer this offseason and named him its starting quarterback before the start of preseason practices. It’s easy to see why the Hoos wanted Morris in the fold.

Morris passed for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns at North Texas last season, setting program single-season records for passing attempts (512), total offense (4,104 yards), and TD responsibility (35) along the way. The Mean Green averaged 33.5 points per game to rank 23rd nationally (tie). The senior QB has compiled 6,207 yards and 47 touchdowns in his career with stops at TCU, Oklahoma, and North Texas.

That production has landed Morris on multiple preseason award watch lists as the 2025 campaign looms. On Tuesday, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List included Morris. Earlier, the Maxwell Award and Davey O’Brien Award also placed Morris on those watch lists.

Daniel Kaelin Showing Progress

While Morris has taken more than 1,500 snaps in his career, Virginia quarterback Daniel Kaelin has yet to register his first in college. The Nebraska transfer did not play last season and redshirted with the Cornhuskers.

In the annual UVA Spring Game, Kaelin did show off a little bit of rushing skills while he also completed 6 of 12 passes for 67 yards. While the scrambling ability was good to see and somewhat unexpected for Kaelin, the Cavalier coaches wanted him to work on his pocket presence this summer and in the preseason. The feedback points: leaving the pocket too early or bouncing around within in it too much.

Elliott likes what the 6’3”, 218-pound redshirt freshman showed in the early weeks of training camp on that front.

“Danny’s done a really good job in the pocket,” Elliott said. “He had been a little bit too happy with his feet in the pocket, moving around and making it tough on the offensive line. He’s improved there. He got a lot of work with the first group in the scrimmage because he’s earned it and then also too I think he’s guy that’s going to have to play for us. So we’ve got to figure out what that looks like.”

Virginia Advertising For Director of Player Personnel

UVA has expanded its support staff for the program over the last several years, adding more analysts, strength and conditioning staff, and nutrition components. With the shifting landscape around college athletics, the Hoos also made the move to make Tyler Jones the General Manager of football and Justin Speros the Assistant General Manager.

Now, Virginia looks to retool its “front office” style operation further with a Director of Player Personnel that will be serving in a role similar to what Speros handled when he originally joined the program as the recruiting point person. As shown in that link, this position “will supervise the recruiting department and oversee the day to day recruiting operations” and is “responsible for developing a yearly recruiting plan for all recruiting periods throughout the year.”

Extra Points

• Virginia coach Tony Elliott said the offense did not commit any turnovers in either of the two intrasquad scrimmages so far in preseason practice.
• Sophomore safety Ethan Minter did record an interception during Monday’s practice.
• Chandler Morris said having UVA a variety of receivers - big bodies on the outside, speed in the slot, etc. - is “going to help us out a ton” this season.
• Coach Elliott said he held a longer scrimmage and practice last Saturday at Scott Stadium when temperatures were up more than they have been in Charlottesville for much of preseason practice. He said “you didn’t see guys trying to tap out, you didn’t see guys trying to find the sideline” and he thinks that was a good sign of team character.
• Coach Elliott said this week of practice will be critical in determining the starters and depth chart at the cornerback position.
• Coach Elliott noted that Trell Harris (hamstring), Mekhi Buchanan (ankle), Hunter Osborne (ankle), and Christian Charles (calf) are among the players coming back from minor preseason practice injuries. Elliott said UVA anticipates Antonio Clary (knee injury from last season) being available in late August.
• A student pep rally ‘Welcome To The Hoo Crew’ is scheduled for Friday night at Scott Stadium. This is a mandatory part of welcome activities for first-year students and transfer students are highly encouraged to join as well. Students need their student IDs.