Hoos Seeking Sustained Success

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — For the first time since 2019, the University of Virginia football team is 2-0. Of the players on the Cavaliers’ current roster, only safety Antonio Clary and defensive end Ben Smiley III were in the program in 2019, so this is unfamiliar territory for their teammates.

A victory over Maryland on Saturday night would move the Wahoos to 3-0 for the only fourth time in the past quarter-century. And for a program that hasn’t been consistently successful in recent years, handling prosperity can be challenging, third-year coach Tony Elliott acknowledged Tuesday.

“You’ve got to recommit to the process every single week,” Elliott said during his weekly press conference at the new Hardie Football Operations Center. “Each game is a season in itself, and what you did last week is not going to carry over.”

Virginia, which defeated Richmond 34-13 at Scott Stadium in the season opener, rallied to stun Wake Forest 31-30 in Winston-Salem, N.C., a week later. A comeback like that one is cause for celebration, but Elliott noted that continued success requires a team to “show back up on Monday. It’s all about what’s next. So just constantly creating singular focus, and we try to do that with the themes of the day … So try to just compartmentalize everything, create a singular focus, and understand that the reason that we’re successful is because they put in the work.”

Clary said the Cavaliers need to keep “doing what we’ve been doing. Just continue to come out here and work each and every single day. Stay humble, trust the process, continue to grind and take it day by day. Then come Saturday, we’ve got to be prepared and ready to go.”

Maryland left the ACC for the Big Ten in the summer of 2014, and the longtime rivals didn’t renew their series until last year in College Park, Md., where the Terrapins rallied for a 42-14 victory.

At SECU Stadium, Virginia raced to a 14-0 lead “and then just kind of lost focus and didn’t play our ball after that,” Clary recalled.

Clary missed the entire season with an injury but watched the Maryland game from the sideline. “We dealt with some adversity during that game, but we didn’t handle it the right way,” he said, “and then you saw how it showed up on the scoreboard. So we’ve got to know coming into this game that they’re going to have the confidence, and we’ve just got to be ready to go, be prepared. Adversity is going to hit us. We’ve just got to be able to overcome it and continue to play our ball and just put our head forward and keep going. No matter what the score says, you just got to keep fighting until the clock’s at 0:00.”

PLAY IT AGAIN? Virginia and Maryland aren’t scheduled to meet again, but Elliott would be happy to see the series continue.

“It makes sense to me,” he said. “It makes sense because we’re recruiting against each other. We’re battling for the same players. They’re not far away. It’s convenient for either fan base to travel to the game. I’m all for it if it works out.”

OLDER AND WISER: As a true freshman last year, quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s second start came against Maryland. He completed 23 of 39 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown, with three interceptions.

Especially costly was the ill-advised pass he threw early in the fourth quarter, with the Terps leading 21-14. On third-and-10 from Maryland 12, Colandrea had room to run but forced a throw that was picked off in the end zone. Instead of coming away with at least a field goal, the Hoos stayed stuck at 14 points, and an 80-yard touchdown drive followed for the Terps.

“I think that was a great learning experience for him,” Elliott said.

Colandrea, who won the starting job last month after battling fifth-year senior Tony Muskett in training camp, has displayed improved decision-making this season. He’s completed 50 of 66 passes (75.8 percent) for 654 yards and five TDs, with two interceptions.

“You’re seeing a more consistent demeanor, and he’s quickly learning to flush the bad plays and stay locked in,” Elliott said.

Colandrea has tremendous competitive spirit, Elliott said, so “the growth that you’re seeing is that he’s able to do a better job of now kind of controlling that and channeling it in the right direction at the right times.”

UNDER THE LIGHTS: For the Cavaliers, this will be the third straight game with a starting time of 6 p.m. or later.

“Love playing in prime time,” Elliott said. “That’s what you do it for. Now, am I going to say that you love the build-up and the wait at the hotel for the kickoff? No, but actually playing in prime time, that’s what you want to do.”

For the Richmond game, UVA students filled the Hill and their section of Scott Stadium. “They were awesome last time we were at home,” Elliott said, “and I really want to challenge the fans: Let’s pack the stadium. Here’s a rivalry that’s being renewed.”

The Hoos will need their supporters, Elliott said, “because we’ve got a very, very good football team coming in here that’s really confident. They beat us last year, so there’s no reason for them to think that they can’t do the same. They’re coming off of a loss. They’re going to be hungry … So [UVA fans] have a great opportunity to help this football team with the energy and the passion, because, man, that’s what it’s about. No better way than to be playing in front of your home crowd with a packed stadium, and why not? This is the University of Virginia. We take pride in everything that we do. So let’s pack the stadium.”

LONG TIME COMING: Defensive end Chico Bennett Jr. led UVA with seven sacks in 2022. Last season was a different story. He had 4.5 tackles for loss but no sacks, in part because he was slowed by injuries.

A frustrating stretch ended for Bennett in Winston-Salem, where he recorded one of the Cavaliers’ six sacks against the Demon Deacons.

“It meant a lot,” Bennett said Tuesday. “It felt like forever, obviously. It was a great feeling.”

Elliott said he’s “definitely starting to see [Bennett’s] confidence grow, and he’s starting to trust the additional techniques that [defensive ends coach Chris Slade, defensive coordinator John Rudzinski and graduate assistant Mike Moore] are challenging him on every single day. I think as he starts to get closer to that quarterback, that confidence continues to grow.”

Virginia has been rotating four players at defensive end: Bennett, Smiley, Kam Butler and Terrell Jones.

Jones, who’s known around the program as T.T., is “one that I’ve really been pushing,” Elliott said, “because I think he’s got a ton of ability. He was playing on the inside, then we moved him to the outside, but I think he’s got the size and the ability. I really want to see him get going. Then Smiley as well. I think as we can develop a good rotation with those guys, keep those guys fresh, I think you’ll see more production out of them as a group.”

NEXT MAN UP: After linebacker Kam Robinson left the Wake Forest game with a knee injury, Trey McDonald filled in capably. A 6-foot-3, 232-pound junior from Chattanooga, Tenn., McDonald finished with a career-best nine tackles, including a sack.

With the Hoos’ other starting linebacker, James Jackson, recovering from surgery during spring practice, McDonald got “ton of reps,” Elliott said, “and I saw him get better. I don’t know if there’s a more fierce competitor on our team than Trey McDonald. He’s extremely physical. He’s very, very smart, and now he’s really starting to be able to come into his own, because he’s getting the physical reps. I’m excited about his opportunity if Kam is not able to play. He came in, finished the game, was productive. So I feel good. I’m confident in him.”

McDonald is Virginia’s No. 3 linebacker, behind Robinson and Jackson, Elliott said. The other key reserves at that position are Dorian Jones and Landon Danley.

Robinson’s status for the Maryland game is uncertain. The injury appears to be a sprain, Elliott said, and the medical staff wants to “let it calm down … It’s a little bit scary there any time a guy goes down with a knee [injury], but it seems like it’s really positive, and it’s more sore, with just a pain tolerance-type deal.”

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