Virginia
Kam Butler has made a good impression early at Virginia. ~ Photo By Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

As the Virginia football team works through the early preseason practices in preparation for its first intrasquad scrimmage, new defensive coordinator John Rudzinski is focused on three things. Fundamentals, installation, and reps, reps, reps.

The goal there is simple. He wants to put players in position to learn the expectations and schemes from the coaches and then give them enough reps to feel comfortable with those assignments. As a result, there's less focus on establishing a depth chart and more attention on getting the players up to speed as quickly as possible. When that first scrimmage rolls around Saturday, then the picture for playing time will start to clearer.

That scrimmage will likely increase the competition and urgency for the Hoos. When they walk off the field at Scott Stadium this weekend, there will be three weeks remaining before the season opener with Richmond on Sept. 3.

"I think it's really fluid," Rudzinski said. "What we're trying to do is get through the initial install. We're very front-loaded with that install and then what we'll do is we'll get a chance when we scrimmage this Saturday to get a real picture of who wants to tackle and who can execute at a really high level."

Depth chart specifics may still require some time, but there are some individuals carving out a role of some sort for the coming season. Returning players like linebacker Nick Jackson (6'1", 234), defensive lineman Jahmeer Carter (6'2", 313), and cornerback Anthony Johnson (6'2", 205) figure to remain involved at their level of the defense for example.

There's at least one newcomer that's grabbed the attention of the coaches early in camp too. Miami of Ohio transfer Kam Butler (6'3", 265) has come in with a purposeful approach and a strong work ethic per the coaches. He earned All-Mid-American Conference honors three times and was a first-team pick last season when he recorded 8 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 1 interception.

Butler will be a factor up front.

"Kam Butler's a great worker," Rudzinski said. "A young man that's played a ton of football. Over 700 snaps last season at a high level. It's exciting to have him and he definitely brings some depth to the D-Line."

The fluid depth chart means its not clear yet how many players will rotate on the defensive line along with Butler and Carter. Senior Aaron Faumui (6'2", 282) has played well out of the gates this preseason and junior Ben Smiley III (6'4", 264) brings some explosiveness to the interior as well. That projects at least four contributors on the DL, but the Hoos likely will need more depth to navigate a 12-game season.

"I don't know if I have a solidified answer on that," Rudzinski said. "I think we've got to put the best players on the field. As long as a young man can be productive, what we'll do is find a way to get him on the field."

While the front seven receives a lot of attention, the secondary features an interesting - and wide open - competition for snaps. The departures of defensive backs Joey Blount, Nick Grant, and De'Vante Cross opened a lot of playing time so beyond Johnson, a lot of players are working to learn the new schemes and find their way to the field.

Someone like Darrius Bratton (6'0", 193) offers experience and some explosiveness, while fellow senior Antonio Clary (6'0", 199) brings versatility and physicality to the table. There's a bevy of sophomores trying to rise the charts too.

The Cavaliers plan to frequently use five defensive backs so multiple players will get a chance to contribute. Who that ends up being will continue to be one of the big stories during the preseason.

"What's been fun about that is to let guys go compete with kind of a fresh perspective," Rudzinski said. "Trying to put those pieces [together] to allow us to put the best defensive unit on the field. It's been hyper, hyper competitive. It's going to be fun to see how it shakes out and I hope that creates some depth for us as well."

Still The Sack King

Back in 1992, the Home Alone sequel already landed in theaters. So too did the animated Aladdin, The Muppet Christmas Carol, and A League Of Their Own. In the 30 years since, the Home Alone franchise released three more versions, Disney made a live action Aladdin, and The Muppets made a big screen comeback. This week, a TV series hits Amazon Prime reimagining A League Of Their Own too.

All these years later, however, the ACC still hasn't found another Chris Slade. The legendary Cavalier defender returned to his alma mater in January as a coach on Tony Elliott's staff and when he arrived, he still owned something he had when he left. The ACC career sacks record. Slade set the conference mark with 40 sacks over his career from 1989-1992.

In some ways, it's hard to believe the record remains intact even as total games have increased and offenses have become more and more pass happy in the last decade or so. Yet, it does. That's a long time to be on the top of the list.

"It's a long time. Yeah, 30 years," Slade said. "I mean it's been a long time. I had some good players around me. I set my goals high very early when I came in here as a first year, that I wanted to be one of the best players to ever play in this University's history. That was just one of my goals so I just stayed focused and I had a good support system, good parents, and a lot of good folks around me that kept me going. It didn't take much to motivate me, though. I walked in ready to go."

Coach Elliott remarked recently that having coaches like Slade on the staff allows players to see a living and breathing example of what it means to be a Virginia football player. They're certainly not going to ignore the opportunity to learn from someone who still leads the record book. Those credentials carry some weight.

"You definitely want to pick his brain and just know how he did it and how he trained," UVA linebacker Hunter Stewart said. "I've always heard stories. It's actually funny one of my English professors says one of the biggest hits he's ever seen at UVA was from Coach Slade. He just came and pretty much just destroyed a guy. So just hearing stories like that and then you finally get to meet the guy and pick his brain, I feel like that was a great contribution to the team from Coach Elliott."

Don't expect Slade to revel in the praise, though. He called some of the defense's performances last season embarrassing when watching from afar and said he's motivated to try to help reboot the defense under Coach Rudzinski. As the position coach for edge players - the defensive ends and Bandits (linebacker/end hybrid players) - he already asked a question to his group and issued a challenge.

"I went around my whole room and I had like 10 guys and I asked every kid how many sacks did you have last year and out of 10, eight of them didn't have sacks," Slade said. "Only two guys who had sacks were [transfers] Paul Akere and Kameron Butler. ... Out of the other eight kids, we had no sacks. All Virginia guys. I wanted to point that out to them and let them know we've got a long way to go, but we can get there."

Virginia Meet The Team Day

Virginia will host its 2022 Meet the Team Day on Sunday, Aug. 14 at Scott Stadium with a movie on HooVision later in the event. Activities begin at 4 p.m. and Family Movie Day starts at 5:30 p.m. The event is free to the public with entry through the West gates beginning at 3:45 p.m.

Coach Tony Elliott and the Cavalier football team will be available for autographs starting at 4 p.m. on the lower level concourse. Fans can pick up copies of the 2022 Team Poster at the stadium. Concessions, balloon artists, and face painters will be available as well. Fans voted for "Encanto" as the movie for the night.

Here's a map of the planned player locations for autographs.

Extra Points

  • Coach Elliott is active - make that very active - during drills as he gives instructions and holds players accountable for details.
  • Coach Rudzinski asked reporters before the media session if it always rains like this in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers have been forced into the indoor facility multiple times for afternoon thunderstorms during the first week of practice.
  • Linebacker James Jackson was back in regular action at Wednesday's practice after being limited on Monday.
  • Antonio Clary (6'0", 199) said he has experience as a kick returner from high school. He's among those working at returner this preseason.
  • I'm regularly curious about Demick Starling's potential impact this season. While the Hoos have multiple standout receivers returning, the 6'0", 188-pound junior has high-end speed and could be a factor on offense and special teams.
  • Virginia quarterback Jay Woolfolk (5'11", 208) said that Coach Elliott pushes him regularly to keep the tempo up on offense.
  • The team worked through some Thud tackling, small group running plays in practice and it gave an initial glimpse at the physicality the coaches want. The drill concept was basically a one-on-one block at the line of scrimmage and a one-on-one block downfield so it puts players in isolated spots to make blocks or beat blocks depending on their side of the ball. It's impossible to hide as a blocker in that situation so the coaches had plenty of opportunities to teach.

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