Virginia Cavaliers Tony Elliott
Tony Elliott prepares to pen his second season at Virginia with a tough matchup against Tennessee. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

There will be no chance to ease out of the gates this season for the Virginia football team. The Cavaliers open the season in Nashville for a so-called neutral site game against Tennessee. The Volunteers enter 2023 ranked No. 12 in the preseason by The Associated Press and they'll have a decided crowd advantage in their home state even if the game's not in their home city of Knoxville.

Beyond the simple advantage of location, however, Tennessee also rolls into the opener off of an 11-2 season in 2022. That campaign ended with a 31-14 win in the Orange Bowl against Clemson, the ACC's most consistent team over the past decade, and a spot in the top 10. While the Vols must replace some key elements of that team's success, there's plenty of experience and talent back in the fold too.

It's all added up to make UVA a 28.5-point underdog by oddsmakers.

A lot of Tennessee's advantage on paper comes from the offense. The Volunteers led the nation last season in both scoring offense and total offense with averages of 46.1 points per game and 525.5 yards per game. Hendon Hooker had a lot to do with that at quarterback as he passed for 3,135 yards and 27 touchdowns with only 2 interceptions last season. Joe Milton III will be looked at to step in there as he did in the Orange Bowl with a big outing of 251 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had 971 yards and 10 touchdowns last season in the reserve-then-starter role.

Receivers like Bru McCoy (667 yards, 4 TDs) and Squirrel White (481 yards, 2 TDs) are back as are running backs Jabari Small (734 yards, 13 TDs), Jaylen Wright (875 yards, 10 TDs), and Dylan Sampson (397 yards, 6 TDs). That's a lot of capable and proven talent still on offense. It's eye-catching on video for Virginia coach Tony Elliott, who guided some successful offenses of his own while at Clemson.

"Woo, they're good. They're really good," Elliott said. "People talk about the pace, but it's as much of how they spread the field. If you watch them, their splits are a little bit unorthodox. They go against convention when you start talking about the spacing. They really, really push their wideouts wide to the sideline, but then what it does is it forces a defense to make a decision. If you're doing that and you're changing formations, depending on how your defense adjusts, you could have traveling back and forth with some of your secondary guys which creates a problem in terms of getting lined up. Then they're physical up front. They can run the football. The quarterback, he's a stud. He can run it and he can throw it. ... Their backs run hard. Offensive line wise ... I anticipate that you'll see a very similar group that's physical, can protect the quarterback, but then also create movement in the run game."

Elliott touched on it a bit in that quote, but he mentioned how Tennessee's offense messes with your keys and rules as a defense as well. It all is designed to try to create favorable matchups. Between things like scheme concepts with motions and stacked receivers to the location of players on the field, the Volunteers can change or at least challenge defenders as they try to find their landmarks or sight keys to make calls and decisions. He said it is "a lot like preparing for option football" because it breaks your standard rules so the defense has to be able to remain in tune with the game plan.

Then there's the part that everyone talks about. Tempo. While the Volunteers are not necessarily the fastest team in the country, they get to the line and try to run plays quickly. They ranked No. 32 nationally last season in total plays run on offense, which is at least a partial indicator of how fast they like to get the snaps going on offense if possible.

"For our defense, we're going to have to be very, very quick after the whistle to get the call and get lined up." Elliott said. "That's something that I've always challenged the guys is to win between the plays. The way you win between the plays is your intensity, your focus, and your sense of urgency. Can you hurry up and get the call so that you can get lined up and go ahead and process the play before the ball is ever snapped."

On the flipside of that is the Tennessee defense. While not as prolific as the offense, the D did tie for 36th nationally last season by allowing just 22.8 points per game. That was a lot of improvement for as the Vols climbed from 90th (29.1 points per game allowed) to post that number. Tennessee had 31 sacks (T-42nd) and 22 take-aways (T-22nd) last season, the types of plays that can swing momentum.

Elliott listed off the size of some of the players in the front seven that help key that defense. Tackles Omari Thomas (320), Omarr Norman-Lott (301), and Bryson Eason (310) bring a lot of physical play to the line. Then you've got linebacker Aaron Beasley (225) that plays bigger than he looks in Elliott's mind to deal with too. Beasley has 169 career tackles.

The Virginia coach said he expects an aggressive approach from the Vols on Saturday in order to challenge new starting quarterback Tony Muskett. He thinks Tennessee will force the ball to come out quickliy and try to rattle Muskett in his first Football Bowl Subdivision start after transferring in from Monmouth.

"You can't help but notice them, they're big," Elliott said. "They're really big ... and they're not just big 2-gappers. These guys can move, they can push the pocket, they can get off of blocks, they can disrupt the run game. Then you're going to have to double them, it's going to be hard to single block those guys. Then you look at guys off the edge ... they can get after the quarterback. I think their best player is Aaron Beasley, the linebacker. He roams around. He's a great pass rusher. He's a big guy that's a matchup problem on your backs, doesn't matter who your back is. Our biggest one is 215. He's listed at 225 but he plays a lot bigger than 225. Very experienced too - he's a senior that's played a lot of football."

Virginia QB Tony Muskett On A Big Stage

Speaking of Tony Muskett, the Virginia quarterback earned the starting job in training camp and is now preparing to make his first start in the Cavalier uniform. He does have quite a bit of experience elsewhere as he started 23 games at Monmouth of the Football Championship Division. The 6’2”, 210-pounder posted posted 5,687 passing yards (5th in school history), 51 passing touchdowns (5th in school history), and a 150.14 passing efficiency (1st in school history). He was named to the First-Team All-Big South list twice in his career.

This is a much bigger stage, though. Nissan Stadium is the home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans with 69,143 listed as its capacity. The University of Tennessee is located from just 2.5 hours away and Vols fans cover the state regardless. So most of those seats likely will be in a different shade of orange and ready to sing Rocky Top at a moment's notice.

"Coach Elliott spoke about it yesterday in our team meeting, you go out there, take a look around, and be thankful for the opportunity, but then you've got to lock in because at the end of the day it's still football between the white lines," Muskett said. "Definitely, I'm going to be thankful and it's gonna be a fun opportunity to go out there in front of 60-, 70-thousand and play this great game but at the end of the day it's just football when you get out there. So keep it simple, don't overthink it, and just play my game."

Elliott repeated that advice in front of the media Tuesday too.

"Just be himself. At the end of the day, it's about just playing your game and doing what it is that has always made you successful, not trying to do too much," Elliott said. "So for him, my message is don't need to be Superman, don't need to be a super hero - just go be yourself and have fun and enjoy the moment."

Extra Points

  • Coach Elliott said he feels better about the O-Line's health now than earlier in camp. The starters for the line are anticipated to be McKale Boley (LT), Noah Josey (LG), Ty Turnish (C), Brian Stevens (RG), and Ugonna Nnanna (RT). Jimmy Christ is still at least a week away from returning. Read more on the depth chart here.
  • Senior Chico Bennett Jr. is expected to miss the opener after a minor procedure to remove bone fragments in his knee mid-way through the preseason.
  • Safety Antonio Clary continues to work his way back as well (ankle) and will be a game-time decision on Saturday. If he plays, Elliott said he anticipates it being in a limited role.
  • Lex Long can play either safety or linebacker for the defense, but he's back at safety for now.
  • Coach Elliott said he anticipates a rotation at running back with Perris Jones, Mike Hollins, and Kobe Pace all getting opportunities for Virginia.
  • I enjoyed catching up with Malcolm Greene, the graduate transfer from Clemson. Stay tuned for a "Quick Take" interview later this week.
  • Virginia hasn't played a neutral site opener since 1989. The Nashville Sports Council announced the game with Tennessee as a sellout on Tuesday.
  • Mentioned above, check out this story on a cool thing coming from Tennessee receiver Bru McCoy - he's donating 1 AED device for every touchdown he scores this season.
  • Sam Brunelle was a participating member of the media for Tuesday's player access session.

Hoo-Tube

Virginia Sports TV features someone on the mic during practices on Mondays. This week, UVA coach Tony Elliott was the subject. Check out this short UVA social media video.