Tony Elliott on Virginia’s Turnaround, QB Battle & ACC Championship Goals | Sports Illustrated

Brian Fisher here at ACC Media Day with Sports Illustrated here joined now by Virginia head coach Tony Elliott.

And Tony, I, I know some, some good memories going into last year and coming back to Charlotte didn't end the way you wanted, but what did you take from last season, especially making it all the way to the ACC championship game?

A great question, Brian.

Uh, just Gotta enjoy the moment, right?

Uh, last year I think was a culmination of 3 years previous of just a ton of hard work and commitment by a lot of individuals, uh, that faced significant adversity but believed in the process and believed that if they stay committed to the process that they could reach , you know, their, their goals and their objectives.

So, you know, coming back to Charlotte, especially this time of year, always an exciting, exciting time, familiar hotel, been here, uh, several.

Several times, uh, over the years.

I've been excited, uh, that we're getting ready to talk ACC football and, and have a chance to, uh, to tell the truth about our league and, and just how good, uh, ACC football is, uh, from top to bottom and, and, uh, and have then have an opportunity to go prove that on the field.

So, uh, just excited that we're at this point to celebrate, you know, some of the things we did last year, but more importantly, to focus on, uh, where we're headed this year.

I mean, that was one of the biggest turnaround stories in, in the country last year.

What what were kind of your big takeaways when you say this is what happened and and that led to our success last year?

Belief is, is really what, what happened is, is the folks in, in that building, uh, didn't care what anybody on the outside said.

Uh, they believed in themselves first and foremost.

They believed in each other.

They believed in the process and the plan, and that's all they, all they focused on.

And it's, it's unbelievable, uh, when you eliminate distractions, what a group of people that believe that are on one accord, what they can get accomplished.

Have you changed over these last couple of years in terms of just being a head coach?

I've learned a lot, uh, and the biggest thing I've learned is, man, don't take myself too serious, right?

Uh, that, that, uh, that at the end of the day, uh, you gotta trust the people, uh, and empower them and, and give them an opportunity to grow and develop.

So, really, really creating boundaries and creating structure to help me stay focused on what my job really is, and my job is to help develop young people.

Well, I mean, speaking of quarterbacks, you might have the most interesting quarterback competition in, in the country.

What are you looking for out of each of your guys, uh, going into fall camp?

Yeah, excited.

Uh, uh, obviously we had an opportunity based off the, the body of work to , to say, you know what, we got enough information, uh, to, to be able to name, you know, Bo, uh, Bo, the starter going into, into the season.

But, uh, Eli, uh, had a, had a great, great run at a great competition.

So I'm excited to get back on the grass and watch these guys, uh, compete.

You know, the biggest thing for me.

Me from my seat is leadership and, and the ability to, to galvanize the uh the locker room and obviously we'll entrust the coordinators to do, to do a great job with all of the, the measurables and the statistics that you need to, uh, to make a determination on, on who that guy is.

But more importantly for me, uh, just looking back to last year, what, what the quarterback position means to the organization because really you're handing the keys to whoever that individual is and right now, you know, Bo's that guy and excited for him and, and he knows that he's got.

To still continue to compete and, uh, Eli knows he's got an opportunity to, to, to put his body of work on the grass, uh, this fall camp.

So, uh, feel good about the situation that we have because we have two guys, uh, in that quarterback room that are competing with each other, uh, and have become good friends and, and good teammates, but most importantly, they got, uh, winning experience and starting experience in, in, in the ACC and in the SEC.

When it comes to the guys around them in terms of the skill positions, who, who are you looking forward to the most?

Yeah, so, so I'm really excited to see how the running back position unfolds, uh, losing Jamari from last year who led the ACC in, uh, in rushing.

Uh, now we have to figure out who's that guy, but man, we, we, we got some really, really talented, uh, players in that room with a ton of competition.

So excited to see kind of how Peyton Lewis, you know, comes out, comes out the gates in camp.

Uh, Jaquille Middlebrook has been.

It has been, uh, I wouldn't say a pleasant surprise, but man, he's been, he's been fun to, to coach and watch and, and probably not a guy going into it that anybody would say, oh, he's gonna come out the starter, but I'm telling you what, he's, he's pushing to win that, to win that race.

And I think at receiver, uh, we got a lot of, of talented guys, not a ton of experience, uh, so, so excited about what Rico, uh, Flores has brought uh.

To the table, a kind of unseen guy that, that many folks don't know about that I think we have to have a ton of production from is a guy named Tylerric Coleman, uh, who's a, who's a talented in-state receiver that's now been in the program for 3 years, going on year 4, I think it's his, uh, his time.

Uh, I wanna see, uh, Josiah Abdullah take that next step.

Cam Courtney is another one, as well.

Uh, DeShaun.

Martin, that we brought in, uh, as a transfer.

So I think there's a ton of guys that have opportunity now.

They just got to go take advantage of it, you know, even dating back from your time, uh, going to Clemson, uh, that this is a line of scrimmage league too as well.

How do you feel about your guys in the trenches there on both sides?

I mean, on paper, right, on paper, it says that we got a chance to be, to be pretty, to be, pretty decent.

We're returning 3 starters on the offensive line.

I think collectively we got about 165, uh, starts combined over 11,000 snaps, uh, but again, you, You, you, it's, it's the bodies, but it's more so the chemistry and the cohesion, and that's, that's what I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing because we are moving, you know, Drake to center.

So now he's playing a new position and, and, and Josie and , and, and Boy on the left side, you feel good about that.

And then, man, Makela Thomas and Monroe Mills, uh, on the right side, two guys that, man, showed a ton of, of promise last year prior to injury.

So on paper, I think we have a chance to, to be, to be pretty good, but you got to still bring it all together.

In terms of the league itself, it has changed over the years.

What has been the biggest change in your mind that the ACCC has gone through the last couple of years?

No, I think first and foremost, from my experience in the league, there's proof that you can win a national championship and you can play for national championships coming from this league, and that doesn't happen if you don't have the competition throughout the course of the year.

But what I've seen over the years is that now from top to bottom, a lot more competitive.

I think the narratives are out there.

About the league, but when you, uh, just look at it and, and you look at, oh, man, these guys were, what, 7, I think 7 and 5 or 7 and 3, in power 4 postseason games, 9 and 5 overall.

I mean, so you got production in season, you got production in the postseason, you got production in the playoffs, and then you look at the quality, you know, players that are coming out that are having a chance to go play in the NFL.

So, um, it is what it is.

I know people are gonna, Tell their story, but I think if you, if you, if you really look at it from a, from your own objective view, you see that, man, the ACC is a very, very strong, uh, league, and it's been that way over the last, you know, several years.

And adding the extra conference game, how do you think that's going to impact the ACC?

Oh man, it's, it's gonna make it hard on everybody.

But if you look at it, we're already playing the toughest non-conference schedule, you know, of any of the leagues out there.

I mean, we're, we're, we're not, we're not dodging any competition.

And then you look at the number of Power Four games that we're playing, uh, it's, it's amongst the, the tops in the, in the country.

So I think it's, it's just, it's just part of, of the new, uh, scheduling model, but, uh, at the end of the day we were gonna play, like we were gonna play NC State regardless of whether it was a conference game or not, right?

And we were gonna go do it in Brazil, right?

So we're not afraid to travel either.

Uh, so I think, I think you, you, you just see the commitment in the league, but, uh, just the parity, uh, I think, I think you're gonna see.

Uh, more quality games with that, with that 9th game, uh, but, but just more parity in the league.

Uh, I'm also circling the one at the end of the season against your rival, a new, new face taking over there in Blacksburg.

I, I don't know how, what your relationship is like with, with James, but what do you kind of expect?

Do you expect that rivalry to be turned up a few notches now, man, I, I, I hope so.

First and foremost, a ton of respect for, for Coach Franklin and what he's done over his, uh, his career, and I have no doubt that he's going to bring that same, uh, mindset and mentality that he had at, at Penn.

States, so I'm looking forward to it, like I'm, I'm excited because what I understand and what I know is that, that every champion needs a worthy rival, right?

And so if we want to be champions, we gotta have a great, a great rival, and I would think he would say the same thing and, and we have to do our part, right?

So over the years it hasn't been quote unquote a rivalry on the field, right?

It's been dominated by one side.

Now we kind of changed that last year, but we gotta be consistent, right?

So I anticipate that it's only gonna make us better.

Right?

And so, so they're, they're gonna do it their way, we're gonna do it our way, right?

But at the end of the day, we're gonna have an opportunity that last game to, to kind of, not just, you know, for, for, uh, the ACC but for the state of Virginia, right?

We have an opportunity to elevate the, just the, the quality of football by the two, in-state, uh, in-state programs.

So I'm excited about it.

And we're excited to see your team possibly make our way back here to Charlotte, uh, Tony Elliott joining us here at Sports Illustrated at ACC Media Days.