Virginia head coach Tony Elliot talked to the media after the scrimmage on Saturday. Here is everything he had to say.
Opening Statement…
“I thought there was good competition. Again, you know, groups weren’t fully um where they’ve been, right? So, it was fun to see how the guys were going to respond. I’m looking at things that are different from maybe everybody else, but I thought the guys were having fun. I like Tyler’s offense responded after the first couple of drives. To be able to put up some points. Don’t like the turnovers. We got to do a better job of taking care uh of the ball. Uh but for the most part, um to be able to get out, compete, um treat it as much like a game. I’m pleased with uh with what we got accomplished.”
On if he puts more stock into the scrimmages…
“I will say this year under these circumstances, yes, because the first two scrimmages were at the practice facility and we weren’t able to put the coaches up in the box. We weren’t able to work just the full game mechanics. So, generally in the spring, all three of them are important, but you do like to see if anything is going to change when you throw some fans and you throw the music and all of the changes that go with the game. So, in this particular case, this season, yes, but normally not as much. You’re just trying to see if there’s anything that changes.”
On the running backs and them making plays…
“It was good to see all of them be able to run the ball. You know, Noah (Vaughn) wasn’t able to go today. He’s got a little bit of inflammation in his knee, and so wanted to be smart right there. And you know, Peyton (Lewis) was battling um you know, stomach flu for the last two days, and so just I think you saw what he’s capable of and when he’s at full strength, you know, he probably finishes that run. It was good to see 21 (Jekail) Middlebrook get out there and let everybody else see cuz he’s probably been the most consistent throughout the course of uh uh spring ball in terms of generating the big play. And the same thing with Solo (Solomon Beebe) and Zay. So, it’s good to see all those guys get in there and not a ton of drop-off between, you know, any one of them that’s out there, which is really encouraging for us.”
On what the running backs add to the passing game…
“They’re able to, you’re able to go through your progression. If it’s not there, check it down to the back. One, they can catch it and secure the yardage to keep the offense ahead of the chains, but then also you see they can break a tackle, you know, slip a tackle, make a guy miss and turn it into from a short pass into a potential first down
conversion or even longer.”
On who impressed him in the spring game…
“I saw Caleb Hardy flying around making some plays. Chase Morrison’s going to be mad at me cuz I didn’t give him a couple of them sacks out there that he thought he had. I thought Jewett (Hayes) flashed a little bit. I thought that was really, really good effort by um uh Fisher (Camac) on the big long play that he ran down. It was good to see TyLyric (Coleman) make a play. It’s good to see Dylan, you know, make a couple of plays, which we’ve been kind of pushing him towards because he’s very capable. So, it was good to see him have an opportunity. I thought quarterbacks moved the ball, considering, you know, the situations and the personnel they were working with. I’ll be able to watch the film cuz for me I was I was watching a lot of the mechanics and really kind of observing just the game mode of the staff and the players, so that I can make my notes to really address those things.”
On the competition of the wide receiver room…
“When you look at it, we’ll travel 11 wide receivers, and we’ll probably play eight throughout the course of the game. So, they got to play uh all game long. They got to run all day long. They got to make the routine plays. They got to make the impossible plays. That’s a group right there where you want competition, but I think the biggest thing is truly having competitive depth because the competition’s going to play out the way that it does. But what you know with wideouts, because they run so much, there’s generally a soft tissue here, soft tissue there, where, you know, they might be down for a week or two and then the next guy has to step up. So, the competition’s been good, but I think the biggest thing is truly building a competitive depth with that unit.”
On De’Shawn Martin…
“I think he brings return flexibility for us. That’s going to help us in the return game. I think he’s got position flex where he can play on the outside to the field as a Z. And then also, I think he’s shown that he needs to have a little more work in the slot as an F for us cuz he’s got the short area quickness. He’s got good ball skills and good run after the catch. The biggest thing for him is he was down a little bit, you know, soft tissue early in spring and then got back. And so, we were able to kind of get him going out there as a Z., But my hope is that over the course of the summer and into fall camp, we’ll be able to increase his versatility and use him at F a little bit.”
On Beau Pribula…
“I think he’s a dynamic athlete that has a lot of confidence extending plays. I thought he did a solid job, too, of sitting in there and trying to find his progression and driving the ball when he needed to. So that’s the area where we’re just going to continue to uh to help him evolve and develop because we know that he can run. We know that he likes to run, and we know that he’s a dynamic guy that has a ton of confidence in doing it. So, um, but I think also too in spring practice, he needs to be able to do it a little bit without getting hit. So, so you teeter on, okay, how much do you make him sit in there? Uh, you don’t want to take away what makes him great. So, you got to let him play his game, but I thought he was and then also saw some things just from a demeanor standpoint uh that were that were good to see. The way he was, you know, talking to the offense and the way he was supporting his guys on the sideline. You know, those are the things that I don’t think people see that help us as coaches know more, so like what the temperament is of a young man.”
On where the team sits at the end of spring practice…
“I feel like this spring in particular, we maximized every day that we were out there, right? If in the past, there have been days where I’ve come off the practice field and be like, man, I don’t know if we maximized that day because it was a lot more coaching culture and core values than it was fundamentals and scheme. Where this group, it seemed like they just seamlessly transitioned very well. The new guys bought in immediately, and so I wasn’t having to run around chasing guys to chase the ball or break to the ball or run on and off the field. Just little things that matter. So, I think that helped us to maximize every day, right? Which I think has helped us from a depth standpoint too. Like a lot of guys, I got a lot of reps and have improved. So, I like where we are. We’ve probably got about 16 more practices between now and the time we start fall camp. That’s going to be a combination of player-led voluntary practices and then also about six, you know, mandatory coach-led practices to to continue to build upon. Overall, I feel like it’s been a good spring and we’re progressing. Uh we still got, you know, a couple of positions that we have to figure out as we go into fall camp, but I like where this group is just as a team. Uh I think we got some depth, and then we’re going to get a lot of pieces back too. Today up front uh Drake knee a little bit of swelling, so I wanted to be safe there. That’s why you didn’t see uh Drake Metcalf today, but he’s had a really good spring. So, he wasn’t out there, which is great for Grant. And then, um (Noah) Josey will be back. We’ll get Xavier Brown back. So, we’re going to get some more pieces back.”
“Then you look on the defensive side of the ball, you’re going to get Kam Robinson), (Maddox)Marcellus, and Landon Daley back. You’re going to get (Ethan) Minter back. You’re going to Who else we got? You’re going to get Corey Costner back. So, we’re going to get a lot of pieces back that I think when you have them back and then the guys that got the reps while they were down and the progress they made, I think it’s going to create for or make a a situation where we get even more competitive uh practices when we get to fall camp.”
On how big of an injury it was to lose Dakota Twitty…
“Dakota’s you know, goes down and so you lose the ability to have some 12 personnel. So, some of your short yardage thoughts are impacted. Then also just your ability to put pressure on opposing defenses by being out there and staying in that personnel to to kind of dictate maybe their heavy personnel being on the field, or maybe you can get a matchup advantage in the passing game. Then, now it puts a lot of pressure on Sage (Ennis) now Sage is like the one-man wrecking crew. He can’t get hurt. Then he gets knicked up and then John’s in there and John (Rogers) playing and he’s giving us everything that he has, but he’s still a young guy that’s trying to learn on the fly. It took a toll, you know, on us. I think you saw it in that Louisville game just kind of how it deflated the unit a little bit, and then it took us a while to kick it back into back into gear.So, uh we look at that position group as the core of the offense, right? Like, none of us likes to work the core. Like, nobody likes to do sit-ups and all that kind of stuff. But, Lord, when that trust me, I know. When that core when that When something’s wrong with that core, though, you know it. All right? Something’s wrong with the core. Like, you feel it. The whole body is impacted. So, that’s kind of what that unit is. So, whenever you lose the ability to be full strength uh in your core, it impacts the rest of the body. “
On if the way the coaching staff coaches the games changes anything at all…
“I would say the landscape that we’re in, you’ve got to coach them, you know, how you coach them. Like I told the guys, we had to do what we did today, right? I know there’s other schools that may not, you know, have a spring game. We have to do what we want to do regardless of, you know, what the portal windows are if we want to develop as a team and be prepared for uh when we kick it off in late August. The positive, I guess, for us is that we don’t have to go get against six DBs like we did last year, which was very, very stressful. In terms of coaching them, the approach that we’ve had is that there’s a me season and a we season. The me season is the time the season ends until the sign time they sign whatever their agreement is. That’s the me season. And so, you focus on what you feel is best for you. But, once you sign and we’re back together as a team, it’s the we season. Then also, too, I challenge the staff to approach it like they’re their own sons, right? I think about AJ and Ace, my two boys, and how I want them to be coached. I want them to be coached hard.”…