Five Most Important Things From Tony Elliott's Media Availability Ahead of Matchup vs WVU

One of the most underrated matchups of the weekend is going down in Charlotte on Saturday.

The No. 25 Virginia Cavaliers are hoping this is the first of two trips they will be making to the Queen City this season, and they face a tough West Virginia opponent who is looking to get a signature win under head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Ahead of the matchup, UVA head coach Tony Elliott spoke with the media on Tuesday and here are five important takeaways from his presser.

1. West Virginia's versatile defense...

West Virginia has always been known for their offense under Rich Rodriguez, during both of his stints as a head coach, but West Virginia has an underrated defense this season and it will present some challenges for the Cavaliers, who have been efficient in both of their games so far this season.

Elliott took time today to talke about WVU's defense, and even drew some interesting comparisions between Zac Alley and Brent Venables, who Elliott used to work with at Clemson:

"Yeah, Zach [Alley], he's a lot like BV [Brent Venables]. I'm thinking about my hairline now, all the hair I lost on the practice field going against Brent [Venables]. And he was right there as an assistant helping Brent [Venables]. And so he's going to be very multiple, like you said. He's going to show you some things that he can do. maybe you haven't seen before to really stress your preparation and ability to adjust in game.

They're gonna go from being a Okie 3 -4 type of defense to being a five-man front playing man coverage. And then they're gonna show pressure, drop out, play exotic coverages on the back end. So, you gotta do a really, really good job. And the challenge for us this week is we now have five days. The last two games we've had at least two weeks to prepare for that game, so now we have to transition to the normal rhythm of getting ready for a game. I do a great job as a staff of helping the guys with that new aspect of preparation.

You know front wise they got they got multiple guys and they can put on multiple spots. You know number 50 brings a lot of juice off the edge. The linebackers are downhill. They're gonna gap you out. So in our world, that means that they're not gonna let you stick on double teams. You're gonna have to you have to win one -on -one blocks and the backs are allowed to be precise with their angles In their vision to be able to find the creases if there are any and then they got some length on the back end and some speed that they can match you in man coverage. So, great challenge for our guys in particular on offense to prepare for the multiplicity of what they do. And then they got the personnel to be able to do it."

This is going to be one of the most interesting battles in the game on Saturday night and UVA's offense will need to be prepared.

2. Jason Hammond injury

Elliott gave an update on defensive tackle Jason Hammond today:

"Yeah, unfortunately for Jason Hammond, looks like the MRIs come back and he's probably gonna need surgery. So don't know the extent of how long the recovery will be but looks like it's gonna be
an injury that's gonna require surgery."

This is a loss for the UVA defensive line, especially ahead of a matchup against a team who loves to run the football.

3. Rico Flores update

Rico Flores was one of the top transfer portal additions for Virginia, and it was at a position of need. There were, and still are, a lot of questions about the pass catchers for Virginia, and Flores has not been able to see the field so far in a game setting. Today, Elliott talked about him and what his addition may mean for this offense:

"Yeah, so he practiced yesterday. So we'll see how we do today. Today is a bigger test
because it's a longer practice.

We got pads on and we really turn it up full speeding and get after it. So we'll see kind of how he responds there, but I think what he brings is leadership first and foremost, right? He's a veteran guy. He's played a good amount of football. He's a very technical receiver. So he's going to be where he's supposed to be when he's supposed to be there."

4. On Beau Pribula's start to the season

Beau Pribula is off to a fantastic start to the season. Though only playing two games, Pribula looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the conference and a dynamic playmaker with his legs. Elliott took time today to talk about what has made the start to the season so special for the transfer quarterback:

"Yeah, so I think it starts with probably had some unfair assessments and evaluations of him as a quarterback. And I think I've said it several times, he's got a quarterback mind. So he is a quarterback. He's not just an athlete that plays a position. He thinks like a quarterback. He processes like a
quarterback. He understands the nuances of the position, the game management, all of those things. And I think that has helped him to transition to the system to where he's very, very comfortable.

And I think he, along with the staff, do a good job of communicating, to being able to
figure out the passing game that he's most comfortable with, right, instead of trying to force him into saying, hey, no, you're going to do this. Like, what are you comfortable with? And then through that, man, we can start to develop in some of the areas that you want to develop. And I thought he did a
really good job in the RPO aspect of the system this past season. this past weekend of taking the access throws that resulted in some big plays. And then when we had a chance to drive the ball down the field, he's been really, really accurate."

Pribula is going to need to play his best on Saturday when he faces a tough West Virginia defense.

5. On being back in Charlotte for the first time since losing the ACC Championship last season

Virginia was one win away from a College Football Playoff appearance last season, but could not beat Duke for the second time in a matter of weeks. The end goal for Virginia is to be back in Charlotte for the ACC Championship game at the end of the season, but they have to win the first game in Charlotte first.

" I think it's a great opportunity for us to get the bad taste out of our mouth from the last time that we were down there. We came up a little bit short.

I don't know if when we scheduled this game in Charlotte, we had all of those details about going back after coming up a little bit short. But it is an opportunity for us to go back to the stadium, get that taste out of our mouth, and then hopefully do what we're supposed to do, take care of business, find a way to win the game, and then now we can get into conference play and already have got all that stuff out of the way. And we also got a clear vision of where we wanna go."

Virginia's contest vs West Virignia will kickoff at 7:30 this weekend in Charlotte at 7:30 p.m ET and will be televised on ACC Network.

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