London, Coordinators and Players Host Media at JPJA

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia head coach Mike London took part in his inaugural UVa Football Media Day on Wednesday, at John Paul Jones Arena. London, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, defensive coordinator Jim Reid, special teams coordinator Anthony Poindexter and a dozen UVa players addressed approximately 50 members of the media.

Fall camp starts Friday and the first five practices – Aug. 6-10 – are open to the public. The two-hour practice period on those days is scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m. UVa football practices are held on the fields behind the McCue Center. The practice times are subject to change pending weather conditions.

London was very enthused about the start of camp and touched on a few of the following points:

“It is exciting because we are now down to the X’s and O’s part. We have a chance to actually go out and practice and put the plan together.”

“LoVante Battle is probably going to move to an outside linebacker position because Mother Nature kind of took over with all the lifting and running. He kind of bulked up a little bit. That is the whole premise of moving safeties to outside linebackers – outside to inside and inside to possibly defensive ends. He is going to line up playing linebacker.”

“It is very important for us to be able to run the ball and establish a physical presence out on the field. Everyone knows by running the ball you can control the clock in certain instances at the end of the game. You have to be able to run the ball because you want the clock to run.”

“If you can run the ball you can also set up the play-action passes that come off those complimentary run plays. It’s going to be important for us to be able to run the ball – push people back – create holes, I think we have good running backs, I think if we can do that and control the line of scrimmage I think we will be a much better team.”

“Right now our mindsets are focused and ready to go. The players are excited. If you look around, the facilities have been upgraded – you go out to our practice field you will see there is a constant theme and message about what we want to be like – what we want to play like and how we want to act. We are looking forward to have an opportunity to increase again and improve again on the field.”