By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE — During a pause in the postgame celebration that engulfed the home locker room at Scott Stadium, University of Virginia football players beseeched their head coach to show off his dance moves. Tony Elliott declined, but that didn’t spoil the party.
Before the Cavaliers dispersed Saturday afternoon, senior linebacker Nick Jackson presented Elliott with the game ball.
“We love you, Coach,” said Jackson, whose teammates shouted their approval.
“This is special right here,” Elliott said, clutching the ball.
Some nine months after he came to UVA from Clemson, where he spent 11 seasons on Dabo Swinney’s staff, Elliott made his debut as a head coach Saturday. There were some shaky moments, but overall it went well. After giving up an early touchdown, Virginia rallied for a 34-17 victory over Richmond before a crowd of 41,122.
“It’s been a long nine months to get to this point,” said Jackson, who led the Cavaliers with 14 tackles. “So for him, for the future of the program, and for us it was awesome.”
Elliott saluted UVA students, who turned out in force Saturday on a hot, humid afternoon.
“I’m gonna get after the rest of the folks,” Elliott said, smiling, “because there were a lot of seats in the upper deck that weren’t full, but hopefully they got a glimpse of where we’re taking this program and what we can be.”
Brennan Armstrong, a three-year starter at quarterback for UVA, was characteristically productive in the season-opener. He rushed for 105 yards and one touchdown and completed 21 of 33 passes for 246 yards and two TDs. Armstrong’s 64-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter made him the Cavaliers’ all-time leader in total offense.
“You just love everything about what his DNA is,” Elliott said, “and I’m just happy that he’s here for me to come alongside, because at the end of the day, the vision I have is only going to come to life with the belief of those guys, and he’s paramount in in our success going forward.”
Perris Jones’ résumé doesn’t match that of Armstrong, but the senior tailback shined Saturday, too. In his first career start, Jones rushed 19 times for 104 yards and one TD, his first as a Cavalier. The former walk-on also caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Armstrong that effectively sealed the victory for UVA in the fourth quarter.
Not since 2018 had Virginia had two 100-yard rushers in the same game.
“I’m just super proud of him,” Armstrong said of Jones. “That’s just the bottom line. You’re happy when you see someone like that work so hard to get an opportunity to play like that.”
Jones is “an unbelievable young man,” Elliott said. “He’s the epitome of what commitment looks like. He works hard every single day.”
After the game, the Wahoos stayed on the field and faced the student section as the marching band played the “Good Old Song.” Elliott said he stood next to Jones and “got to rub on his head and tell him how proud I was of him, because he stayed the course.”
The Cavaliers’ offense totaled 505 yards, 56 of which came on a first-quarter touchdown pass from Armstrong to wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr. It was the first game since the 2020 finale for Davis, who missed last season while recovering from a torn ACL.
When he reached the end zone, Davis said after the game, so “much emotion went through my body. I was just so happy … It was a really good moment.”
The Hoos went into halftime leading 28-10 but turned the ball over on each of their first two possessions of the third quarter.
“I wasn’t pleased with the second half,” Elliott said. “I challenged the guys in the locker room [after the game] that we got to finish. We’re gonna find out the maturity level and the makeup of this team in the second half, and I felt like the guys just were excited about the [first-half- success]. They were focusing on the first half and didn’t finish the second half. So it’s a great opportunity to teach these guys how to finish games, because games are going to be won in the fourth quarter, and it was also credit to Richmond.”
Richmond competes in the Football Championship Subdivision and usually fields a strong team. This one has a lot of weapons, starting with quarterback Reece Udinski. The Spiders (0-1) battled to the end, as Virginia expected they would.
“They’re a good team, no doubt about it,” Jackson said.
UR’s tailbacks, Savon Smith and Aaron Dykes, rushed for 88 and 76 yards, respectively. With a game at Illinois next on the schedule, UVA’s run defense has work to do.
“It’s something that we’re gonna have to make sure that we’re a lot better at next week,” said Virginia’s new defensive coordinator, John Rudzinski. “We know that we’ll face a great opponent that will want to run the ball, and so there’s a lot to learn from.”
The Cavaliers are intent on running the ball, too, and much is being asked of their inexperienced offensive line, whose starters against Richmond included true freshman McKale Boley and sophomores Ty Furnish and Logan Taylor.
“As I’ve said, we want to establish the run and then everything opens up off of that,” Elliott said, “getting the safeties to fit on some of your play-action stuff and then you’re able to hit some seam balls down the field. So it was just good to see the offensive line [in a game]. That was the first time they played together.”
The line gave up one sack, “so there are some things to clean up,” new offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said, “but that group is starting to gel, and I’m fairly certain they’ll get better next week as well.”