UVA’s defense bracing for Coastal’s ‘Air Raid’ attack

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia defensive coordinator John Rudzinski may be packing a bottle of Visine for his film study of Coastal Carolina’s “Air Raid” offense this week.

Because the Chanticleers boast a new offensive coordinator, a new scheme, a new quarterback and lots of new personnel, Rudzinski’s film study on the backgrounds of this Saturday’s opponent has been exhausting.

Virginia hosts Coastal (6 p.m., ACC Network) and is an 11.5-point favorite, according to oddsmakers, for the season opener.

Just how extensive has Rudzinski’s research been? How about going all the way back to 2019 when he was the defensive coordinator at Air Force, when he faced Washington State’s “Air Raid” in the Cheez-It Bowl. The Cougars were coached by the late, great Mike Leach and Drew Hollingshead, who is now the offensive coordinator at Coastal. Hollingshead has since followed Leach to Mississippi State, then moved on to Western Kentucky the past two seasons after Leach’s shocking death.

“Golly, they had a good plan that day,” Coach Rud said of Washington State’s wide-open offensive attack in that Cheez-It Bowl battle. “We went all the way back to ‘19 when they (Leach and Hollingshead) were together. Shoot, him and the Pirate (Leach’s nickname) were putting schemes together.”

In fact, Rud remembers how Leach came out with a counter play in that game that he wasn’t prepared for, but after some adjustment, found a way to stop the play.

Rudzinski said he’s been driving Virginia’s football video guys nuts in researching extensive clips of Hollingshead’s offensive tendencies from that 2019 game to his career at Mississippi State and then to Western Kentucky. Certainly Hollingshead’s version of the “Air Raid” will provide a test for Coach Rud’s revamped defense.

“They do a great job schematically with regards to what they can do with their run game, and then also, the willingness to put the ball on the perimeter and get it into playmakers’ hands,” Rudzinski said Wednesday. “You’re going back into the archives, saying, ‘Hey, when did he call it? When? How many times did he call it? What are his two-point plays?’”

Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said Tuesday that facing an unknown offense presents challenges, even with some familiarity.

“They can get the ball out quick, they can get it on the perimeter,” Elliott said. “They have a ton of mesh concepts to free guys up if you play man coverage, so they’re going to stress you. And then, in the run game, if they need to, they can spread you out and still run it. They can bring in condensed sets and create edges and get the ball on the perimeter.”

Because Hollingshead didn’t call every play last year for Western Kentucky, that complicated Virginia’s research for tendencies, forcing staff to look at Mississippi State and even Washington State, where Leach primarily called plays, but Hollingshead was heavily involved.

“I remember watching that Western Kentucky offense get after Boston College, and I mean they got after them for a while, and then it was some late penalties that turned that game,” Elliott said. “So we’re anticipating that they’re going to have a similar plan to try and attack us.”

The Chanticleers also feature a new quarterback in transfer MJ Morris, who played at Maryland and NC State. Over three years, Morris passed for 1,717 yards and 19 touchdowns with 11 interceptions.

Coastal’s coaches have also had to do a little research. While the two teams met last year, a lopsided Virginia win in Conway, S.C., both teams’ personnel has vastly changed. The Cavaliers have brought in a ton of new players in the secondary and have some legitimate pass rushers who will try to pressure Morris into making mistakes.

Coach Rud said he was impressed with his pass rush during training camp for one simple reason.

“The ability to win one-on-one’s,” Rud said. “We’re going to have to win one-on-one’s Saturday. I think we’ve been really competitive against some good offensive linemen that we face every day from our offense. Being able to win some one-on-one’s and hopefully cut the pocket up a little bit and make quarterbacks uncomfortable.”

Elliott has been encouraged by the defense’s ability to pressure his own quarterbacks with a four-man rush, something Virginia hasn’t been able to do since his first year in Charlottesville when Rud’s defense produced 30 sacks. Since then, in ‘23 and ‘24, UVA has a combined 30 QB sacks (19 last season and only 11 in ‘23).

In the offseason, the Cavaliers have brought in some transfers with strong pass-rush skills, such as ends Fisher Camac (UNLV) and Cazeem Moore (Elon). UVA also may get more disruption from its interior defensive lineman such as nose tackles Jahmeer Carter and Anthony Britton, along with tackles Jason Hammond, Hunter Osborne and Jacob Holmes.

As Elliott pointed out, sometimes those rushers don’t always get home for the sack, but they’re getting close enough to move the quarterback off his launch point, sometimes making him pull the ball down and scramble.

Rud believes he has linebackers who can come on the blitz only to add to that pressure, guys like Landon Danley, James Jackson and Maddox Marcellus.

The early portions of Saturday night’s game will feature a lot of cat-and-mouse with coaches from both sidelines adjusting to some possible looks they didn’t anticipate, which should add to the excitement of opening night.