Hoos Looking to ‘Control the Controllables’

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — He often counsels his players to simplify their lives, recommending that they limit their time on social media and concentrate on academics and football. With a visit from No. 8 Florida State next up for Virginia, head coach Tony Elliott believes that advice is more timely than ever this week.

At 7 p.m. Friday, UVA (3-1 overall, 1-0 ACC) hosts FSU (3-0, 0-0) in a game to air on ESPN. This will be the teams’ first meeting since 2019, when the Cavaliers rallied to defeat the visiting Seminoles 31-24, and the first time since 2021, when No. 7 Notre Dame came to town, that a top-10 team has played at Scott Stadium.

Moreover, the 30^th anniversary of Virginia’s historic win over Florida State, which until that Thursday night had never lost an ACC game, is approaching.

“So there’s a lot of circumstances that you have to make sure that you can block out so you can focus,” Elliott said Tuesday during his weekly media availability at the Hardie Center.

“And then it’s a quick work week. So the biggest thing for us is just adjusting to the schedule. Sunday is a huge day in preparation and recovery, and we lost our Sunday, so to speak, and we were right back on the practice field on Sunday for a Monday-type practice. Everything’s been condensed, so it’s even more important this week that you simplify your life so you can stay focused.”

Elliott understands, of course, why this week differs from some.

“This is why you play college football,” he said, “to play in games like this. I told the guys this week, I asked them how many of them want to play pro ball and everybody raised their hand. I said, ‘Well, this is the closest thing you’re going to get to it at this level, when you’re playing a team like Florida State. It’s pro ball, and it’s a game of inches, and you’ve got to win in tight spaces.’

“So I think the guys are excited. And then this is also an opportunity for us to kind of see where we’re at, like how much progress have we really made when you’re going against a team like Florida State.”

Virginia’s veterans include tight end Sage Ennis, who graduated from Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Fla., not far from the FSU campus.

Ennis, who earned two degrees from Clemson before transferring to UVA in 2024, said he’s heard from some of his high school coaches about the upcoming game.

He was on Clemson teams that played the Seminoles, “so to me at the end of the day it’s just another opponent,” Ennis said. “It is special in the fact that I have people reaching out to me, and they’re kind of like, ‘Hey, I hope you’re doing good, but I can’t root for you this weekend.’ But at the end of the day, it is what it is. They’re another opponent, and they’re on our schedule, so we’ve got to go play them.”

The Wahoos can’t afford to get caught up in the hype surrounding this game, Ennis said. In the end, he said, the most important thing is “what we do. And so if we want to go out there and we want to get the result that we want, we have to execute, we have to perform, we have to do all the little things, all the details, be precise in what we’re doing, give great effort, and understand all of that is on us. We need to control the controllables.”

The Hoos’ most recent victory over a top-10 opponent came in 2023, when they defeated North Carolina at Kenan Stadium.

FRESH START: Florida State’s starting quarterback, Tommy Castellanos, leads an offense that’s averaging an ACC-best 628.7 yards per game.

Castellanos transferred to FSU this year from Boston College, where he started 20 games in 2023 and ’24. Virginia went 1-1 against Castellanos when he was at BC.

As a Seminoles, he’s completed 71.1 percent of his passes, and he’s averaging 5.1 yards per carry.

“He’s always been really good, a very dynamic player,” Elliott said. “We learned that firsthand a couple years ago up at BC, when we got a lead at half, and then he just takes over in the second half. So very dynamic, but what you’re seeing is a lot of confidence. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. He looks very decisive … Decisive on when he needs to pull it down and run it, and then when he’s in space he just looks like he’s playing a video game, to be honest with you. He’s making people miss.”

The Noles’ offensive coordinator is Gus Malzhan, a former head coach at Arkansas State, Auburn and Central Florida.

“They’re doing what Gus has always done,” Elliott said. “He makes you defend every inch of the field, from sideline to sideline from end zone to end zone.”

GETTING UP TO SPEED: UVA safety Antonio Clary made his 2025 debut Saturday against Stanford. It was his first appearance in a game since Nov. 9, 2024, when he tried unsuccessfully to play on the ACL he’d torn the previous month.

Clary, who’s in his seventh season with the Cavaliers, played sparingly against Stanford. “I think we said last week he was probably a max of about 15 to 20 reps, and with another week of practice, that will go up,” Elliott said. “So the biggest thing was just to kind of get him introduced to the game to see how the knee was going to be without the brace, how he was going to handle it.”

No. 0’s conditioning will determine how much he plays, Elliott said, so the quicker Clary’s “body can get to the level that he needs to be, the better it is for us.”

Clary said Tuesday that he was “knocking off some rust [against Stanford], but it did feel good to get out there for a little bit.”

Elliott has joked that Clary is upset that he hasn’t been turned loose on the field. Clary, however, said he knows that Elliott “just really wants the best for me. Out of my competitive nature, I want to be out there as soon as I could. But Coach E, he’s the head man, so whatever he says goes. Obviously, I wanted to be out there as soon as possible. but your overall health is the most important thing.”

ON THE MEND: UVA lost its starting center, Brady Wilson, to an injury during the Stanford game. A graduate transfer from UAB, Wilson is “day to day,” Elliott said, “and hopefully right now it’s just a calf strain.”

Daniel Sparks, who punts and kicks off, hurt his hip Sept. 13 in Virginia’s win over William & Mary and was limited to holding on extra points and field goals against Stanford. He’s day to day, too, Elliott said.

“We thought we were gonna get Sparky back last week with the hip flexor, but it’s taking a little bit longer than we anticipated,” Elliott said.

When Wilson left the game Saturday, right guard Drake Metcalf moved to center, a position at which he started four games for Central Florida in 2023. Kevin Wigenton II took over at right guard.

“It’s just musical chairs at times,” Elliott said, smiling. “Next man up, ready to roll. But I’m really proud of Drake and his ability to slide in at center, and if Brady’s not ready to go, then Drake will be an option for us at center.”

If Metcalf is snapping the ball, Wigenton and Tyshawn Wyatt figure to get work at right guard.

A transfer from Illinois, Wigenton has struggled with injuries and missed some practice time last week, so “he wasn’t as sharp [against Stanford],” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said Tuesday. “But he’s a smart kid … He at least knew what he was doing, it’s just physically he wasn’t as sharp out there, but he’ll play a big role for us moving forward.”

HIGH MOTOR: With 2.5 sacks, defensive end Daniel Rickert leads the Cavaliers this season, and the graduate transfer from Tennessee Tech also has three quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.

“He’s our best football player right now,” defensive coordinator John Rudzinski said Tuesday. “He plays fast and tough and violent and he finds a way to be around the ball.”

Rickert, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, enrolled at UVA after the 2024-25 school year ended. Elliott has a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Clemson, and he said that made talking with Rickert easy “in the recruiting process, because of the similarities in background.”

Against Stanford, Rickert recorded two sacks, a breakout performance that didn’t surprise Elliott. Rickert impressed during training camp last month, and “he’s an outstanding young man,” Elliott said.

“He’s extremely competitive. He only knows one speed. He’s one of those guys that you gotta take his helmet from him to slow him down. He’s gonna work extremely hard. He’s done a great job of understanding who he is, what his strengths are, areas to improve, and he tries to play to his strengths. And we’re gonna need him to play to his strengths this week to try and find a way to somehow get close to their quarterback.”

ROOM TO GROW: This will be the fourth of Virginia’s seven home games this season. The Cavaliers drew announced crowds of 46,143 for the opener against Coastal Carolina, 38,512 for William & Mary, and 36,223 for Stanford.

Scott Stadium’s official capacity is 61,500. Every time the Hoos play at home, Elliott, he hopes to see a capacity crowd that’s “packed, loud, aggressive, putting pressure on opposing teams … I understand we’ve got to do our part and we’re working towards it, but I anticipate there’ll be a good crowd [Friday night]. But at the end of the day, we can’t focus on that. We got to focus on the product that we put on the field, and I think the guys have done a really good job of just having a workmanlike mentality and showing up and going to work regardless of how many people are in the stands.”

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