Notes and quotes from Virginia Coach Tony Elliott ahead of Delaware game

Injury updates, breakdowns and more were brought to light by the Cavalier skipper

Aug 29, 2026; Charlottesville, Virginia, USA; Virginia Cavaliers head coach Tony Elliott during the game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at Scott Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg Atkins-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Coach Tony Elliott spoke to the media Tuesday, answering questions after Virginia's first loss of the 2026 campaign.

He highlighted what went wrong in the West Virginia game, but reiterated his focus on flushing the result and moving on to prepare for Delaware's visit to Scott Stadium this Saturday. Here are the important notes and quotes from Elliott:

Updates on the status of Noah Josey, Rico Flores Jr. and Devon Baxter

Left guard Noah Josey went down with an injury in the second quarter Saturday. According to Elliott, it was an ankle issue — and the star lineman was at practice yesterday “moving around.” Elliott also said that Josey was going to work back in today.

As for receiver Rico Flores Jr., Elliott observed that the veteran is “still trying to get his legs underneath him.

“He's been down for several weeks with that hamstring,” Elliott said. “So, really, the first time he was able to test it in a game situation.”

Devon Baxter also received good news. He is day-to-day with a shoulder injury, but should be okay and is expected to play Saturday.

West Virginia loss sparked by ‘the little things’

After reviewing the tape, Elliott and his staff concluded that the loss in Charlotte was due to small errors, rather than any systematic issues. They attributed a few first downs (and a touchdown) to perfect plays by West Virginia.

There were a few plays that were self-inflicted wounds, such as biting on a double move and a play call that was poorly fitted. But overall, the bigger plays were lost due to the Mountaineers breaking tackles, winning contested catches and other little things.

“When we watch the tape, when you look at it, it's the little things,” Elliott said. “So, staying focused on the little things, you know, things that you preach all the time and the things that they did, right, that created a success that they had early. And then now I think they have an understanding that it's always about the little things and it doesn't matter who you're playing, you got to stay committed to those.”

Bigger than football

Saturday’s game against Delaware has been selected as UVA Strong Day. Elliott began his press conference by speaking about its meaning.

“It's a big, big day for our program, especially with this staff,” Elliott said. “I think everybody knows what happened back in November of ‘22, and it's something that, as a program, we carry forward every single day. As I said back then, that we were going to turn tragedy into triumph, and we were not moving on. We were moving forward. And here we are, almost four years forward. And still, it's a very, very big component of our program.”

There are still a few players from the 2022 team on this year’s roster — Will Bettridge, Noah Josey, McKale Boley, Xavier Brown, Dakota Twitty, Daniel Sparks and Noah Hartsoe.

“And so, my ask, and I don't ask for much, is just, man, we show up and we be UVA Strong for them because at the end of the day they paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Elliott said. “This football team will be prepared to play and understand the significance of this game. I just would hope that everybody would show up and be UVA Strong because, to be honest with you,the expectation that we've created about winning here, a lot of it is a result of what happened then because a bunch of folks, staff and players, decided to stay and to stand in a very difficult time.”