What you’ll see and not see in today’s Virginia Spring Game

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Des Kitchings (Photo: UVA Athletics)

It came as no surprise a couple of weeks ago when Virginia coach Tony Elliott said the Cavaliers’ defense was well ahead of the offense in early spring drills. That shouldn’t be the case when UVA holds its Blue-White spring game Saturday at 4 p.m. (also ACC Network).

“The offense has made some progress,” Elliott said after the team’s 14th practice of the spring on Thursday. “We’ve had a little bit more consistency with the personnel in practice offensively, with the exception of the offensive line.

“For the offense, there’s a little bit more details. Defensively, you’ve got to get those guys lined up and you coach them up a little with technique and then you say, ‘Go get the ball.’ A lot of what they do is based off of energy, motion and passion, whereas offensive football, it’s all 11 at the same time with a lot of details.”

Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings will unveil a little of his work in the spring game, but don’t expect him to open the book because the game is televised and fall opponents can steal a look at what the new Cavaliers have to offer. Still, we’ll see huddle, no huddle, up tempo, four-minute offense, multiple formation.

What we’re not going to see a lot of in today’s game are offensive linemen. Presently, there are only eight healthy linemen, which means a couple of them will be playing for both teams, particularly tackle Jonathan Leech, who has made huge strides in spring drills with the high number of reps he has received.

What we are going to see a lot of is quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who will play the position for both the Blue and the White. Backup quarterback Jay Woolfolk, the only person other than Armstrong who has any experience at the position, is busy striking out North Carolina batters out of the bullpen for Virginia’s baseball team. Doesn’t appear there’s any hope that Woolfolk will make history – at least in the last 40 years – in playing in a baseball game and the spring football game on the same day.

What we’re not going to see a lot of, as aforementioned, is a full display of Virginia’s offense. Kitchings said he will purposely dial back what he shows.

“Yeah, cause everybody’s probably watching this to see, ‘Okay, what exactly is Coach Elliott and his staff doing offensively and defensively?’” Kitchings said. “We might call a couple of trick plays out there, right? Get them prepared for that. Coach Elliott and I have talked about some things we may do and we may not do, but we know that people are going to be watching this game.”

What we might see a lot of is a heavy dose of running back Mike Hollins or Amaad Foston, or both. Hollins said he has liked “being fed” the football in recent practices, as many as 30 times. We could see plenty of UVA’s receivers, including local product Malachi Fields, who surprised as a freshman last season and according to Elliott, “is pushing Lavel Davis.”

One thing we likely won’t see is Armstrong running the ball a lot. Kitchings doesn’t intend on Armstrong leading the team in rushing next season. He’s not interested in following the pattern of the last four years when UVA’s quarterbacks (Armstrong and Bryce Perkins) have led the team in carries.

Kitchings and Elliott have hinted that while they’re not taking the long ball out of the offense, they will likely ask Armstrong to throw more short to intermediate routes because he has all the throws and is accurate, plus the percentage is much higher, particularly with the experienced corps of receivers UVA boasts, in addition to Mr. Everything Keytaon Thompson, who can play receiver or running back.

Last year’s offense could strike quickly, and Kitchings isn’t opposed to that.

“We want to score in one play if we can as an offense, right?” Kitchings said. “So it’s not that we’re crafting the offense to kind of grind it out. We’re crafting a team to be physical. Like I’ve said before, win the down. So how can we win the down?

“We talk about first down, we want to gain four or more [yards], and we want to be able to do that running or throwing the football so we win that down, first down. We want to win second down, so we want to gain at least half on second down. If it’s second-and-eight and we decide to run the ball, we want to make it at least third-and-four, or same if we throw the ball.

“That’s what we’re talking about with the balance part of it. If we can score in one, two or three plays, yes, let’s score. We’re not trying to not score the football, but we also know that there’s gonna be drives or situations where we have to maintain a four-minute possession to win the game.”

Spring Football: Elliott focused on the big picture heading into Saturday’s spring game

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Elliott (Photo: UVA Athletics)

In the years leading up to this one, Tony Elliott didn’t have any difficulty knowing where to place his focus on spring football games. He was all-in on offense.

On Saturday, when Virginia lines up for its “Blue-White” game, its spring game, the head coach’s loyalty will be divided.

“I want the offense to win a little bit and I want the defense to win a little bit,” Elliott said after the Cavaliers’ 14th practice of the spring. “So I’m sitting back and I’m enjoying it when it’s competitive and it’s not lopsided. The coordinators want to win their side of the ball, but yes, it helps because you’ve seen everything by the time you get to the season, and so it’s easy to recall and it forces the coaches to spend time developing answers that they can have in their tool bag once they get to the season in case we’re preparing for, let’s say, a Miami team that’s doing something a little bit different. We can always say, ‘You know what? We saw a little bit of that in spring and fall camp.’”

Assistant coaches Marques Hagans and Chris Slade will be the designated head coaches for Saturday’s game (4 p.m.). The first half will be played in regular fashion, with an accelerated clock for the second half.

At least 18 players are listed as not participating in the contest: wide receiver Billy Kemp IV, cornerback Darrius Bratton, linebacker Hunter Stewart, quarterback Jay Woolfolk, place-kicker Justin Duenkel, safety Jonas Sanker, running back Ronnie Walker Jr., linebacker Kendall Cross, long-snapper Lee Dudley, guard Derek Devine, offensive tackle Logan Taylor, guard Zachary Teter, offensive tackle Colby McGhee, wide receiver Luke Wentz, wide receiver Nathaniel Beal III, nose tackle Lorenz Terry, and defensive ends Jack Camper (transfer from Michigan State) and Bryce Carter.

Elliott said that Walker, who was having a good spring prior to an undisclosed leg injury, likely won’t be ready when fall camp begins. Nor will Duenkel, who is recovering from an ACL, leaving junior Brendan Farrell to handle all the punting and place-kicking duties.

“He’s got to do it all,” Elliott said of Farrell. “I do worry about that and so once we get out on the road, I’ve instructed the folks in the scouting department and recruiting to just be on the lookout in case we need to. We found another walk-on to come out and help us from a punting standpoint.”

With a lack of offensive linemen, some will be doing double duty on Saturday playing for both teams, as will quarterback Brennan Armstrong.

For the most part, Elliott has checked all the boxes he had hoped to for the spring drills. The lack of depth on the offensive line prevented as much live work as the new head coach wanted, but yet enough work to evaluate the personnel on hand.

“The biggest thing for me is the big-picture things, really establishing the core values and the practice habits and the fundamentals, the tempo at which we practice, the organization, the structure,” Elliott said. “Those were the things that were the most important to me. Schematically, I let Des (Kitchings, offensive coordinator) and I let Rud (defensive coordinator John Rudzinski) do what they needed to do.”

Among the 14 practices have been two full scrimmages and one half-scrimmage, plus a couple of 50-50 days, again limited because of the lack of personnel on the offensive line (plenty of help is coming in the form of transfers and true freshmen).

Elliott said the first scrimmage lagged because of the new systems, new terminology, all causing “the eyes were a little bit big and things were moving fast.” The second scrimmage went much better. Fundamentals have improved team-wide, particularly on the defensive line, which struggled to stop the run or put pressure on opposing quarterbacks for the most part last season.

NEXT: Has the offense caught up to the defense?

In case you missed it: For more UVA Spring Football coverage, click here: Quarterbacks; Defense; Offensive Line

Spring Football: Starting over again, Tujague’s mission is a familiar one: ‘Fix It’

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Garett Tujague (Photos: UVA Athletics)

During a head-spinning, two-week span in January, Garett Tujague pulled off an amazing recruiting feat. Virginia’s offensive line coach convinced six high school prospects and two players out of the transfer portal to commit to the Cavaliers.

“I’d have to write down on a piece of paper in the hotel room where I was, so when I woke up in the morning, I knew where I was and where I was going next,’ Tujague laughed when he looked back at his journey. “It was awesome, it was amazing.”

He wasn’t kidding. The pressure was too great to kid around. Virginia desperately needed players. The entire starting offensive line, and a good one at that, transferred out of the program after the Cavaliers finished 6-6 and experienced a coaching change.

“Fix it,” Tujague said. “We’re right back to fix it.”

UVA’s veteran line coach probably heard that phrase in his sleep after hearing former head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s message over the time it took Tujague to build an offensive line. For years, the O-Line was considered the weak link in the program and Bronco was always telling Tujague to “fix it.”

It’s not certain whether new coach Tony Elliott repeated a similar message to Tujague after the mass exodus of Big Uglies. Tujague already knew what needed to be done.

“I love the challenge, the opportunity to take something and have it excel,” Tujague said. “It’s going to happen, it’s going to come to fruition, I promise you. It’s a lot of fix it, a lot of going back and redoing, doing it right.

“Going into a [practice] period where you have five minutes, where you want to work a drill and you don’t move on until everybody hits it right. Baby steps. That’s a beautiful thing about this game. It’s doing the little things right.”

Derek Devine

While the team awaits the high-schoolers and some transfers to fill up the offensive-line room, Tujague is putting together a patchwork group, rotating positions and hoping everyone present stays healthy.

Meanwhile, he’s not hesitant to push these guys to get better during spring drills, which end Saturday (4 p.m.) with the annual “Blue-White” Spring Game at Scott Stadium.

Tujague issued a challenge to his guys at the beginning of spring practice.

“I took them all, sat them down and said it would kind of be embarrassing if a kid came in here in fall camp or over the summer and took their job,” the coach said. “I mean, honestly, there’s 15 practices. If someone who didn’t have those 15 practices comes in here and takes your job, you probably should be embarrassed.”

Not only was the pressure on Tujague to rebuild the numbers along the offensive line, but pressure to develop them into a cohesive unit that can protect one of the nation’s most productive quarterbacks in Brennan Armstrong.

“Pressure? Yeah, there’s always that opportunity to make sure you have your allotments in your rooms for scholarships,” the coach said. “But again, it’s the quality of player. To me, it’s the quality of player and the guys that are coming in that aren’t here yet. They are going to be good football players.”

Tujague said that it was up to the linemen who left to pay it forward, to have the responsibility before they left to pass knowledge and techniques to the next guy.

Noah Josey

“It was Ryan Swoboda’s job to pass that down to Logan Taylor. It waw Olu’s job to pass that down to Ty Furnish, Chris Glaser to pass that down to Noah Josey. I mean, that’s how you make a place better than when you found it,” Tujague said.

Furnish and Jestus Johnson III have been playing at the center position, while Josey, Jonathan Leech and Derek Devine have been working at guard, with Devine getting some experience at right tackle and Charlie Patterson at left tackle.

“Charlie’s getting his feet wet and has gotten a lot better in the weight room and obviously needs to keep going,’ Tujague said. “I got to make sure I protect him that he doesn’t do or get outside of himself. Leech has been really good at right tackle. Taylor, who plays at tackle, has been on the mend.”

The coach believes Devine has a chance to make a difference. Devine took every rep last spring when Glaser was down with injury, had grown leaps and bounds, but was injured in the fall when he was scheduled to receive snaps equivalent to Joe Bissinger.

In case you missed it: For more UVA Spring Football coverage, click here: Quarterbacks; Defense

‘Jerry Ratcliffe Show’: Matt Schaub talks UVA career, NFL, NIL

UVA all-time great QB Matt Schaub joins “The Jerry Ratcliffe Show” to talk about his college career, his long time in the NFL, post-football life and reconnecting with his alma mater.

Spring Football: UVA’s new defensive coordinator wants Cavaliers to be simple, yet super aggressive

By Jerry Ratcliffe

John Rudzinski (Photos: UVA Athletics)

We’re not sure of John Rudzinski’s cooking background, but there’s one thing Virginia’s new defensive coordinator knows – that the transition of the Cavaliers’ defense from awful to solid isn’t going to happen overnight.

Last season, UVA’s defense wasn’t just one of the worst in the ACC, but the entire country. Most point to that side of the ball for the team’s collapse and 6-6 finish, including a four-game losing streak to end the season.

Rudzinski, who orchestrated some glorious defensive performances at Air Force before accepting Tony Elliott’s challenge to build a winner in Charlottesville, has stressed fundamentals throughout spring drills. Wahoo fans will get a taste of Coach Rud’s work on Saturday for the annual UVA spring game (4 p.m. at Scott Stadium).

“If we’re going to be good here in this game, we’ve got to stack days on top of each other and frankly, it’s not going to be the snap of the fingers or it’s not going to be something that we put in the microwave and it’s done,” Rudzinski said. “It’s something that we’re going to have to put in the oven, put on slow roast and see if we can’t really, really cook it the right way.”

The new DC wants to feature multiple looks for opposing offenses and will present both a base 3-4 defense and adjust to a 4-2-5. Two of Rudzinski’s assistants on that side of the ball, Clint Sintim and Chris Slade, have offered up teasers as to what the Cavaliers’ defense will be like – aggressive yet conservative, simple for UVA yet complex for opponents, not a lot of blitzing.

“Playing good defense is ultimately making that field short and trying to be really good in the red zone,” Rudzinski shared. “If you’re going to be playing good defense, you’ve got to minimize big plays and it’ll be something that we’ll emphasize as we get going. It’s a metric that ends up being a great indicator as far as the success you’re having defensively.”

Other than poor tackling, UVA’s defense surrendered huge chunks of yardage, lots of points and too many big plays.

Perhaps the main reason former coach Bronco Mendenhall and his staff went to the 4-2-5 last season was because they felt it gave them a better chance to withstand the pressure of all the wide-open offenses the ACC had to offer.

Clearly, that backfired for myriad reasons, but Rudzinski will bring different ideas into his scheme and believes the fact that Elliott’s offense will offer more of a running game will help toughen up the defense against the run, an age-old axiom in college football.

“What’s been unique for me going against a multiple offense, truly pro-style offense, gives me the chance in the spring to evolve as far as creating some good answers for some good offensive schemes that (offensive coordinator Des Kitchins) has put on the field,” Rudzinski said. “At my previous stop, I saw a little bit different offensive schemes that was really super run-dominant, so to see the ball thrown around a little bit more, and to teach some of those different fundamentals has been good for us and it’s something that needs to continually evolve to number one, our personnel, and then also to what we feel like we can execute.”

Slade said the defense is simple, at least for Virginia’s players to comprehend and execute, something Rudzinski felt was necessary.

“Simple is always better, right?” Coach Rud said. “When I communicate with my wife, simple is always better, so it better be the same with our defensive scheme.”

That doesn’t mean it can’t be aggressive at the same time.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you what, we want to ge a super aggressive group,” Rudzinski said. “I think guys get a chance to play super aggressive if they know what to do, which goes back to simplicity.

“If we can coach it, if we can minimize our terminology and be avle to communicate it in a very concise way, that gives us an ability  for our guys to be able to learn it, but then also, it’s such a fast game. The talent we play here in the ACC is so darn good, we just don’t have the benefit from having to think. So our guys have got to ge able to react.”

Because it’s spring ball, Virginia won’t be whole until training camp when freshmen come in and some transfers will be set, so what fans see on Saturday certainly won’t be a finished product. It will take time, but coaches are busy on building a foundation.

Still, the new defensive boss has seen work from some players this spring that has caught his attention, including inside linebacker Nick Jackson, nose tackle Jahmeer Carter, defensive tackle Aaron Faumui, linebacker Mike Green, linebacker Chico Bennett, safety Antonio Clary and cornerback Anthony Johnson.

In case you missed it: For more UVA Spring Football coverage, click here: Quarterbacks