UVA Football: Everything From Tony Elliott's Press Conference On Monday

Fall camp is wrapping up for the Virginia Cavaliers as they are ready to start the 2025 season next weekend against Coastal Carolina. After practice today, UVA head coach Tony Elliott spoke with the media and here is everything that he had to say:

1. On if the competition at positions has played out how he wanted...

"For the most part, yes. Yes, there's been a ton of competition. Injury has impacted some of that, where we haven't had the consistent competition just because guys have been in and out of the line -up. But overall, all the guys are being pushed. You know, even a guy like Boley who's been a starting left tackle for three years, he's getting pushed, you know, in practice to be better. Cross the board, say, with Noah Josey. Even at center position, Drake's done a really good job of jumping in there at center and creating some competition.

And on defense, the defensive line is extremely competitive both interior and on the edges. Linebacker is a little bit, little bit, thin right now just because of some of the injuries we anticipate getting one of the guys back here pretty soon, one may be a few weeks into the season, but overall, it's a lot more competitive out at practice, which is a good thing."

2. On the quarterbacks...

"With the quarterbacks, I'm really pleased with the progress that both of them are making, the competition that we have daily, you're seeing improvement, just still, you know, Chandler getting comfortable with the guys and kind of pushing him to just do the little things from a leadership standpoint because fundamentally, he's really sound. He has a good command. Now it's kind of like I told him, you drive the ship, push the guys, the tempo, the little things, the game's been shipped, and then Danny's done a really good job in the pocket. He had been a little bit too happy with his feet in the pocket, moving around, and making it tough on you off into line.

He's improved there. He got a lot of work with the first group in the scrimmage 'cause he's earned it, and then also too, I mean, I think he's the guy that's going to play for us. So we got to figure out what that looks like, but he's earned that right. And so we got to get both of them prepared to go."

3. On Kam Robinson...

"Yeah, so Kam, first day of full pass contact, which was day number seven, took a shot on the collarbone and reported it and there was a big old knot and was like okay we got we got to look at this and did a did an x -ray and it showed something but nothing significant but we said hey let's be be be careful so we did a CT scan and there was a slight fracture that was that was developing so the best thing to do was to go ahead and get it fixed now as opposed to waiting till it goes out in the season so we anticipate he'll be down for a couple weeks, I think he gets the stitches out this week and then he'll be back into conditioning. Obviously they had to put a plate in and some screws, so it's fixed. Now we just got to get him back in football shape, but it could be a couple of games in before he's ready to roll 'cause he won't get the stitches out till this week."

4. On other injuries...

"So Clary, we anticipated that it would be the end of August before he really cleared to go with which means he's got a couple of weeks to get himself in in shape ready to go. I anticipate he will be ready to go by the time we kick off and the same thing with Hunter Osborne. You got a ankle and a hamstring so those aren't those aren't significant. Hunters out the boot running on on dry land so I anticipate it'll be another week."

5. On his messaging to the team...

"So we had a guest speaker come in, C.L. Shepherd, and he's internationally known. He speaks to a lot of football programs. He had a great message, and he gave us a word which turned into an acronym, but the word was press. So we got to press. Now's not the time to let up on the gas, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and we've got to sprint through the finish line. And that is also symbolic of what we're going to have to do in the fourth quarter, we're going to have to press to go win games, find ways to win and not to lose.

And I think it all goes back to how you approach practice. And today they had a tough week last week. So I think I counted it up. In 14 days, they had 11 contact practices and two of those being full scrimmages. So I mean, that's a lot of, that's a lot of banging for a football player. You think about a football player, they play once a week. And then they only have two days during the week where they even put full pads on. And we were out there 11 out of 14 with shoulder pads banging. So their bodies are hurting a little bit. But you got to build that callus right now for the season.

And so coming off an off day on Sunday now they kind of see the light at the end of the tunnel they know camp's gonna break uh midweek and we've got our cab bowl and then the students are going to be back in town so they kind of are anticipating that but we got to focus and we got to press and so that was me just challenging the guys and pointing out some of the the little detail things right that, that on day one we're not going to miss because we're fresh but even when we're tired mentally we still got to have the same state of mind.

The body may be tired, but the mind can't be. And so that's really what this morning was with the guys, and the same message after practice. We got to press. Keep pressing. This is when growth really takes place in these kind of days. And I told them that the good Lord has taken it easy on them with the weather. So we have to figure out how to create that adversity because it's going to come. And we need to be able to play through it."

6. On the need to play better at home...

"So this, this is this is a whole different team because there's 54 new ones that have never Been in Scott Stadium other than the scrimmages. So I haven't talked about it as much yet, other than the days that were over there. And just really trying to create the mindset that the grass is sacred. That there's blood, sweat, and tears, equity from a lot of guys that came before us that have created a standard that we have to uphold. And so that's been the messaging up to this point. And then as we break camp and we really start to focus on the first game, we'll talk a lot more about that. But I have a sense that this group is going to take pride in it and the previous groups did as well.

I think the difference in defending Scott Stadium is in the fourth quarter finding ways to win and not beat yourself. So we've got to be a more disciplined football team. We have, I think, depth will help us be a football team that can finish better in the fourth quarter because we've got guys that haven't played snaps right as much as we're talking about building competitive stamina like The body just it's gonna it's gonna slow down after about a hundred snaps, so I think depth will help us, you know be a little bit fresher And you notice the teams that are really good in the fourth quarter a lot of times because I got a lot of depth And they can play guys and enter fresher team in the fourth quarter and then they can lean on people So those are a couple things that I think we got to do better, right? And I anticipate this group is going to take pride in that.

7. On who is emerging at cornerback...

"Yeah Great question. We're trying to figure that out because we did have we did have Manny (Emmanuel Karnley) down for a little bit with with the knee But he's been back full speed last couple days When I say Manny, I mean Karnley he was he was down and and we had (Donovan) Platt down with a hamstring for a little bit and Kevon (Gray) had an ankle. And so we just haven't had as the consistency back there now, talent -wise, I think we definitely got some guys that can help us. And this week right here will be big, coming off of the scrimmage.

So Robinson, Platt, Carnegie, Kevon, Sanker, scrimmage. So Robinson, Platt, Karnley, Kevon, Sanker, all the guys were available for the scrimmage, which is good for us. Now, you can see in the scrimmage that the effect of some guys not having as many practice reps and it showed up in the scrimmage but this is the week now where we got to do our best job as coaches to help them get them help get them up to speed and we're not gonna have as much of the physical aspect to do it which I think will be good for the guys because then we can slow the game down and get them prepared mentally, but we got what we need. We just got to get it figured out and we don't have a definitive set guys yet just because of the way camps go on camps going, three of those guys have been out for a little bit of time."

8. On where they have seen the most improvement...

"The guys are really learning how to practice. We're doing a much better job of getting full speed work without being on the ground. That's been, and that's why I think we've been, you know, we haven't we haven't had as many concussions, knock on wood. We haven't had as many shoulders as we've had in the past because guys are practicing better. We've taken advantage of every single day. And so you're seeing some consistency.

Today I got after them this morning, and some of it is my job to see an opportunity. So it wasn't as much as they weren't doing what they were supposed to, but they gave me an opportunity and I had to capitalize right to get them ready to go, and that's my job, right, because they're gonna go, but we needed a certain level of intensity and it's my job to help there but they came out had a really good practice today they were we're getting better in understanding situation of football and really what it takes to win at the end of the game with some of our four -minute stuff and some of our two -minute we had a really good two -minute work in the stadium on Saturday and then we had some good four minute work here today so I think we're getting better better there and and the leadership of the team is, starting to to really you know emerge which is going to be key because at the end of the day situation or no situation if you don't have good leadership it doesn't matter."

9. On Sage Ennis...

"I think dealing with the the injury off the field it's, it's really challenged him from a leadership standpoint he's probably one of the best, he is one of the best leaders we got on the team and you really start to see that and physically he looks good he's back to to run in the way that I used to see him run as a young guy he looks comfortable with with his redirect. So I think he's getting back football eyes where he wants to be and then the leadership is where I've seen the most the most growth."

10. On the progress between the first and second scrimmage...

"Right so, so first the scrimmage one, scrimmage two we didn't turn the ball over on offense which I'm happy but then at the same, I'm a one defense to create turnovers, right? But when you come out of it and the offense doesn't turn the ball over and not putting it in jeopardy much is a real, real positive. 'Cause that's probably the number one stat that really, really matters in football is the turnover margin. And we have not done a good job there.

So I've seen, I've seen growth there. We're just more consistent with execution. And so now it's just coming down to winning one -on -one matchups, right? So, so overall, So overall, guys are in position for the most part all the offensive guys are going in the same direction on the same page. And so now we can really focus on the fundamental aspect whereas in the past you got to correct a lot of different schematic things. It takes time away from correcting the fundamentals so we've just been a lot smoother.

The guys know how to practice, as I said or seeing some explosives, which you don't want to see, but at the same time, too, when you're playing in freshman corners, you should have some explosive plays when you have an older veteran wideout. So you take that into consideration, but overall, I feel like we've been able to get really, really good work in the stadium, in both scrimmages, take care of the ball, and come out relatively healthy.

I think Grayson Reid was, was only one just, twisted his ankle, he was only one in a you know, almost you know 90 -hundred place scrimmage with special teams and special teams being live and so I think you know that's a testament to the guys practicing the right way even when we go live so just making progress you know as a as a program you know holistically in the efficiency of our practice the flow the coordination we're taking advantage of we're not wasting time some time and intentionally I kept them out there for a while right we were out there for a good long time on Saturday and it got hot, the sun came out there and I wanted to see what this team was gonna do and this team they didn't spit a bit all right.

Now, are there things we got to clean up? Absolutely but you didn't see guys trying to tap out you didn't see guys trying to find the sideline and this was by and Saturday was by far the hardest day that we've had all camp when you have a hard game like the hard day like that in the scrimmage you finally get to see the depth and the trenches on both sides and how much you have and how much comfortable you are rotating those guys in yeah no doubt and uh there were some plays that the offense got excited about that they made that if it were live that quarterback was going to be hit by some of them d lineman so that was good to see so you want the offense to be happy but at the same time too I'm happy because I see that Mitchell was right there, on one of them, Fisher was right there on one of them.

You start to see some disruption upfront, different levels on the run game that they're creating, which forces backs to stop their feet. So I was excited to see that. And I feel like we should be able to roll with like 10 guys, five at each position, five at the interior, and five guys on the edge that we can roll throughout the course of the game to keep guys fresh and then we can change up, change up looks and we can get some, you know, we can get some heavier guys on the edge and some packages. We can do a lot more things than we've done in the past because we have that depth."

11. On Mitchell Melton and Jayden Thomas...

"You know, both of those guys that you referenced, Mitchell and we call him JT, they're quiet guys by nature, but you're starting to see their play talk loudly. And that was one thing with Mitchell. I just, I had a challenge and said, "Amen, you might've came from where you came from "and been a guy that was in the rotation, a depth guy, but here, man, you're going to be a leader. And that's, I think, why you came here. And you want to be a great player. So he's really embracing that. He's practicing a lot better, more consistent, from start to finish. I'm starting to see him lead his guys.

And then JT, you know, JT transformed his body this off season, playing a lot faster, a lot more confident. And JT's not going to say but he's gonna show up every single every single day, but I'm pretty sure down there in a locker room in their moments with their buddies They're getting questions about what was, what it was like and they can speak to it unless you've been there, it's hard to describe it and then when you've been there It's still hard to describe it, but you know man, it's different."

12. On the relationship with Chad Morris and Chandler...

"You know, so prior to Chandler it was, it was, you know, I wouldn't say it was real frequent, like we would catch up a couple times a year just, just staying in touch because I know he was busy and I was busy. Now he does a good job of kind of toeing that line because even though in our relationship, he still got to be dad. I know he talks with the offensive staff a lot because he's also working with the company that provides services to two colleges as well, but you know, he's done a good job of providing some insight, but at the same tim,e you know, trying to make it about Chandler and not about he and I's relationship and same thing with Chandler I've tried to make sure that man Chandler is his own man And he is, and he's earned that.

Like, I mean, take the relationship out of it. Like, we were gonna go try and get Chandler anyway. All right, because of who he was and his production and what he could bring to our football team. And it just so happened that there was a relationship, but that wasn't the only reason that Chandler came here. Like, he did a thorough evaluation of the program and the people and decided that it wasn't just Coach Elliott. It was the coaches and that he wanted to be to be a part of so I tried to be mindful of that and make sure that that I keep it you know more of a coach player relationship than you know the relationship of knowing him since he was you know a young kid. He says he still called him champ man though. Champ man at times. I catch myself though. I catch myself there. Well you know and his dad still calls him that a little bit too so but I do know what it's sat and I recognized that and I'm like you know what I probably just need to call them channel right."

13. On the running game...

"Yeah, it was something that was positive about the scrimmage,s we were able to establish some efficient, you know run game, and I think we're we had a chance to be much bigger than we've been in the past with the additions up front. So we got a little bit more size where we can lean on some people on some double teams in some of our run game and create a new line of scrimmage. The backs have done a really good job.

I think, you know, J'Mari Taylor shows a little something a little bit different and then X is as good as X has been and really, really happy for him and proud for him because he's been there every single day and it hasn't shown any signs of durability issues. Harrison's been a really good addition and then Noah Vaughn's doing a really good well so we feel good that we got four running backs that can play in all situations and not have much of a drop-off -and then with Josey and Boley on the left side I mean you just like that left side has been kind of steady for us for the last couple years and then Brady's been a great addition athletic enough to be able to reach some people so it gives us some some flexibility.

I like the potential that we have now we got to go see it against other people in different schemes, but so far we've been we've been targeted right, which is a positive. So, all those guys have taken ownership of the scheme to know where we're going. The Y receivers have taken a lot of ownership and their responsibility in the run game because explosive runs come when the wide receivers block and do what they're supposed to do. And so you're starting to see some of that. So in both scrimmages, we've seen some explosive runs out of out of different backs, which tells you that there's some consistency up front. And it's not just one guy having all the big runs. So I feel, I feel, you know, I'm encouraged, I'm really encouraged about our ability to effectively run the football as opposed to two years past."

14. On the tight ends...

"It is, I mean, 'cause at the end of the day, you wanna run your quarterback, but you don't wanna run your quarterback too much. And if you don't have a tight end that can come in there and cut off the C gap and divide zone and hold off the opposite side of the gap and your quarterback is now going to have to be a common runner. And so their ability to block in the box gives us the ability to force the ball into the hands of the running back mark and not letting the defense dictate it on the edges. So that's huge, and then that transitions into play pass. So now they're going to have to be effective in play pass and then when you can when you need to stay out in 10 personnel sets, where you only got one back in the backfield, which is a running back or you can do that as well, but you we're not gonna live in that world We're not built to live in that world.

That's where John Rogers has to take the next step which he's showing signs of that to guy Kirby's got to take the next step and we got to get these young pups ready to go because that position really in the cottage style of offense so to speak and even in the pros nowadays is the glue that holds everything together that is the the position like they don't get talked about enough but I like to call in the core of the offense right we all nobody likes to work their core but Lord have mercy let that core not not be strong or something happen with that core you really really feel it it makes everything else go So yes, you're exactly right, that tight end position is pivotal to our success, both in the run game and the pass game. And they've made a couple plays in the pass game too, some big explosive plays out there in the scrimmage on Saturday."

15. On Devin Neal...

"I'm hopeful that our linebackers lead us because that means the D line is doing their job and freeing them up to go make plays, right? I think what's happened is, you know, they, the D line is getting blocked, the linebackers were getting blocked, and now the safeties have to make the play right? So I'm hopeful that you know we're putting the backers in a better position to come down here to make plays because we're commanding double teams with that D line. But I think Devin Neal can do that. He was an all-ACC player two years ago, and he's playing fast, he's confident, he's down and he's down some footballs in the scrimmage on Saturday. So excited about him."