The Virginia football team wraps up its spring work this weekend with the annual Spring Game. The Hoos will play the scrimmage exhibition starting at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Scott Stadium. Admission is free.

UVA finished 7-1 in the ACC and 6-1 in home games in 2025. That propelled the team to a historic season, winning 11 games for the first time in program history. The run culmuniated in December with a win in the Gator Bowl against Missouri.

Of course, in the transfer portal era, there is a lot of roster turnover. For the Hoos, that includes 29 incoming transfers and 14 high school commitments. So now the challenge for the Cavaliers is stack back-to-back winning seasons under Tony Elliott for the first time. This will be the first chance for fans to see some of the new players and this year's team. This year's spring game will not be televised.

Elliott said he always likes to see how players react in the public scrimmage setting that the Spring Game provides.

"What's their demeanor in a in the stadium when you got like game simulation?" Elliott said. "Because again, we don't get many opportunities to see that before it's for real. So I want to evaluate what's there like, are the lights going to be too bright, or do they feel right at home? I think I know that about some guys, but there's a lot of guys I've never been in that situation. So that's what I'm looking for. I want to see competition. I'd love to see a great turnout from a fan standpoint to help us create that atmosphere."

Beyond the intangibles of playing in front of a crowd, Elliott also said this provides the first game-like situation to work with some players. That can include some of the logistics things that come with game days like communication.

"I want to see guys having fun. I want to see how guys respond to the intensity of game-type coaching. And how do we function together?" Elliott continued. "How do we communicate? All those little things that are hard to recreate on the practice field because of the pace at which we practice. When you go in the stadium, now you can add in these other circumstances and I want to see how they respond."

For fans interested in meeting some of the players, there will be a Meet the Team period and autograph session after the Spring Game on the field.

Spring Game Format

Elliott's first Spring Games at Virginia usually split into Blue and White teams featuring both offense and defense on each side. This spring, however, the Blue and White squads will be split by offense and defense. The offense will be the White team and the defense will be the Blue team. Special teams will not be live except on extra points. Elliott said the move was made in part to take advantage of the practice setting in Scott Stadium because the team didn't get as many turns there this spring as in the past.

As always, quarterbacks will be under restrictions for tackling and wearing a different colored jersey.

Here's a closer look at some of the details for scoring and for the planned scrimmage:

Long Kicks

While the special teams units won't be fully live in the Spring Game, the Hoos have been evaluating different things this offseason. One of those is the possibility of having returning punter Daniel Sparks pull double duty as a long field goal specialist.

Sparks handled kickoffs at times in his career previously, but the Cavaliers think they have a good option there in Elijah Slibeck. Slibeck stepped in for the Florida State game last year, for example, and put all six of his kickoff attempts into the end zone for touchbacks. He also has worked as Sparks' backup at the punter position.

Sparks earned second-team All-ACC honors last season at punter. He averaged 47.2 yards per punt for the season. That was the third time he landed on an All-ACC team of some kind after receiving second-team recognition in 2022 and an honorable mention nod in 2024. Why would the Wahoos have him step over then and work on long field goals? In part, it provides a different possibility on some possessions. Long-time kicker Will Bettridge has a career-long field goal of 47 yards, while being very reliable on closer kicks. Bettridge has connected on 80.0% or better of his total field goals for three straight seasons.

"I also want to see [Sparks] accept the challenge of being a long distance field goal guy because he's got the leg. There's no question. It's really just can he, in the amount of time that he has, develop the accuracy to put it between the uprights," Elliott said. "I was out at practice with some guests and they were asking me about [it] and I said from about 55 he can still hit it to the top of the to the goalpost, I just don't know if it's going between them yet. So he's got plenty of leg for that. But in order for us to help him there, we're going to have to take the kickoff responsibilities and hopefully, you know Slibeck will be able to fulfill that role and you got Bettridge on your short area, you know highly accurate, you know from his field goal range and then outside of that is where I want Sparky to expand his role. But if it takes away from his ability to be an all-conference punter, then we'll focus on that."

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