It's no secret that Virginia football coach Tony Elliott wants fast-paced, high-tempo, and efficient practices with his Cavaliers. The players get shuffled from one drill station to the next regularly in skill-building portion of practice, while the later team segments often feature alternating groups getting reps side by side.

That design has been there since Elliott arrived and he has commented at times about how many reps the team can reel off in a 90-minute practice. It requires players to be mentally engaged and ready to roll with each rep change.

With a whole host of names joining the program this spring, a bunch of newcomers are getting a taste of the tempo for the first time. Transfers like Andre Greene Jr., Kendren Smith, Chris Tyree, Gavin Frakes, and Kempton Shine have experience with practices elsewhere at the college level, for example, but it can still take a moment to adjust even if previous stops have been high paced as well.

Shine, a graduate student defensive back, talked a little bit about the dynamic after the first practice this spring.

"It's an experience, man, because it's kind of different than where I came from. Everything's really fast paced and you really have to be on your P's and Q's," Shine said. "It's most definitely high tempo."

For Frakes, a junior quarterback, said that the practices are “super fast tempo” and even differs from winter workouts within the same program. While those are high energy and competitive with things like tug-of-war at times, it’s still different when you’re thrown into drills or specific reps at practice. The number of moving parts alone can make it “a little more hectic,” Frakes noted.

That could be good for game preparation in his mind, though. As a quarterback, the tempo practices put you “in pressure situations” where you have to think quickly and that is similar to games where “you have to improvise” in the moment sometimes too. Frakes played in 11 games with 5 starts as a freshman at New Mexico so he has a basis for comparison.

"It's a little more hectic. Just a lot more going on," Frakes said. "When you're running and lifting, it's one thing, but when you're playing football, doing drills, some drills you haven't seen before, you’re just learning on the fly really."

Shine played for Eastern Michigan from 2019-2023, which included time as a starter on the boundary corner for most of the last 3 seasons. Overall, he played in 45 games with 176 tackles made so he’s been in games plenty. He agreed that practicing fast can have benefits when it comes time for live snaps in the fall.

"Most definitely because the more you're high pace at practice, the more the game is going to be slowed down on actual game day," Shine said. "You're so used to high tempo in practice, in the game everything is slowed down to make you play faster."

UVA Hires Mike Adams As Linebackers Coach

When Virginia learned that it had an opening on the staff with Clint Sintim departing for Illinois, Coach Elliott worked through five finalists as candidates. Eventually, he settled on experience as a key factor for his decision.

Elliott announced that Mike Adams, a 26-year coaching veteran, had been hired just before the start of spring practice. He brings experience from South Carolina State, Charleston Southern, South Alabama, Mercer, and West Georgia among previous stops. Elliott and Adams coached together at SC State back in 2006 and 2007.

The decision to bring him into the fold at Virginia, the highest coaching level for his career at this point, came down to his work as a "proven" coach and what Elliott views as a "good fit" for the program’s needs. Adams coached 15 players in his career to date that went on to play in the NFL. Beyond that, he's had experience as a defensive passing game coordinator, secondary coach, linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, and special teams coordinator. He held the latter role for two seasons before becoming a defensive coordinator for the first time so even that part of his resume could be vital given the Hoos' issues on special teams in Elliott's first two seasons.

"Just his presentation, demeanor, ability to communicate, just the tenacity he coaches with, he's a great teacher, he understands the game at an extremely high level," Elliott said of Adams' hire. "We felt like from a developmental standpoint, he was going to help our guys take the next step. Also a ton of support with his experience to the defensive staff just with game-planning opportunities and the many different systems that he's been a part of. He's going to bring a ton of knowledge to help us."

Jahmeer Carter Starts Business

It's been a busy offseason for Virginia defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter. He got married in January and started a business, both of which followed the decision to return for a final year of eligibility as well.

Carter, who has started 32 games among 43 appearances for the Cavaliers and posted a career-high 35 tackles last season, said he started the consulting business to help young athletes and their families work through the process of becoming a college football player.

"For me the purpose of it was to mentor young athletes, especially high school kids, that's in the process right now of trying to go to college and trying to figure out what they should be working on," Carter said. "How does this work? How does that work? That's really the whole gist of my business. I try to mentor as many kids as I can in a positive way."

Virginia Coach Tony Elliott Named To AFCA Board

The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) announced that Tony Elliott has been elected to its Board of Trustees. The Board formulates policy and provides direction for the AFCA. Elliott is one of six new appointees along with Ohio's Tim Albin, Illinois' Bret Bielema, Marshall's Charles Huff, Kansas State's Chris Klieman, and Oklahoma's Brent Venables. Bielema (Big Ten), Elliott (ACC), Klieman (Big 12) and Venables (SEC) are being added as second representatives of their conferences.

The AFCA has more than 10,000 coaches in its ranks representing all levels of the sport. Part of the organization's goals include maintaining standards in football and studying matters that pertain to the game. In addition to providing learning resources for coaches, the AFCA also presents (along with USA Today) the Division I FBS Coaches' Poll and All-America honors.

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