By Jerry Ratcliffe

Photo: UVA Athletics

Virginia’s defensive line just got stronger with the addition of Jacob Holmes and Cazeem Moore, thanks to the Colorado court ruling allowing fifth-year players that had exhausted their eligibility to return for another season.

UVA announced Saturday that Holmes, an interior defensive lineman, and Moore, a defensive end on last year’s 11-win squad, will be integrated into training camp this week “as the program assesses matters associated with their return.”

Tony Elliott said earlier this week that “we’re going to do everything from an administration standpoint, from a program standpoint, to position Virginia to be successful in the future. I think the challenging thing is that each day there’s an update [with the controversial ruling].”

Elliott said UVA was being very careful in the interpretation in order to get everything right, and that team general manager Justin Speros was being diligent about the process while also having contact with Holmes and Moore.

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The two players were part of a John Rudzinski defensive unit last season that finished second in the ACC in scoring defense (19.6 ppg) and third in total defense (309.5).

Holmes played in all 14 of the Cavaliers’ games last season after transferring from Fresno State. He posted 33 tackles and had six tackles for loss and three sacks. During his combined UVA/Fresno career, Holmes appeared in 47 games and recorded 20.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks.

Moore transferred to Virginia from East Carolina, where he played three seasons for the Pirates. Like Holmes, Moore played in all 14 games for the Cavaliers last season and tied with Holmes with three sacks, the third-most on the team. Moore was an All-CAA player at ECU and had 18 tackles last season for Coach Rud’s defense, in addition to four quarterback hurries. During his combined UVA/ECU career, Moore played in 49 games and posted 16 sacks and 24 tackles for loss.

When Elliott was asked about the process of adding two experienced players to his roster after two weeks in training camp, the coach explained how that would work.

“Man, No. 1, it’s for the players’ health and safety,” Elliott said. “Those guys that may have transitioned on to a different style of life from January, right? They didn’t go through offseason training, spring ball or the summer workouts.

“So an individual like that, you’d have to get him in shape first and then you’ve got to get them in football shape, then you’ve got to integrate them into the team.”

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