Hoos Benefiting from Strong Leadership

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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — At the end of practice Monday evening, with his players gathered in front of him, University of Virginia head football coach Tony Elliott praised the leadership his team has shown this season. Then he called up, one by one, the four Cavaliers selected as season captains in voting among the players: defensive tackle Jahmeer Carter, linebacker James Jackson, tight end Sage Ennis and, finally, quarterback Chandler Morris.

This is Elliott’s fourth season at UVA. In each of his first three years, the players voted for team captains at the conclusion of the season. At the players’ request, the timetable changed this year, and they voted after Virginia’s eighth game. Elliott shared the results with the team Monday night at practice and with media members Tuesday morning at the Hardie Center.

“It’s interesting,” Elliott said, “because as coaches, we might have a different perspective. But we only see a small portion. You’re not in the locker room all the time or with them when they’re out in public.”

In all, 32 players received at least one vote each, Elliott said, “which tells you that there’s tremendous leadership all the way around, not just from the guys that were selected captains. We had six guys that had 30-plus votes apiece, which tells you there’s a lot of leadership, so it was good. It was very organic, and that’s what they wanted. And I’m so excited for the guys that were captains, but then also I want to encourage the guys that may not have been one of the four that we’ve got more than just four team captains on this football team. I think the results are proving that there’s great leadership.”

Ranked No. 15 nationally, Virginia is off to its best start since 2007. UVA (7-1 overall, 4-0 ACC) plays at Cal (5-2, 3-3) on Saturday in a game to air on ESPN2 at 3:45 p.m. ET.

Elliott is a former wide receiver at Clemson. He joined the Tigers’ program as a walk-on and later was named a team captain.

“I’m not just saying it because it happened to me,” Elliott said. “I think that’s one of the highest honors you can receive in the game of football.”

HEADING WEST: The Wahoos are leaving Thursday for the Bay Area, a day earlier than they would depart for most road games.

This will be only the third time in program history UVA has played a football game in the Golden State. The Hoos lost at USC in 2010 and at UCLA in 2015.

Logistical challenges abound on a cross-country trip, and UVA staffers have planned extensively for this game, Elliott said.

“The staff’s done a great job of tapping into the resources of not just college but NFL resources about making the West Coast trip,” he said. “And so, yes, we’ve had conversations about what’s the right timing? When do you go? How do you get acclimated to the time change? What’s the meal schedule? Should you get out there and do some stretching? Do you want to have a fast Friday practice? What’s the best combination?

“And so we took all that information and evaluated it and then also looked at where our team is right now to help us finalize our plan to travel out west.”

Elliott noted that many players and staffers “have never been to the state of California. So it’s actually pretty cool that you get a chance to travel that far. I don’t want to do it every week. I don’t want to do it too much, but we can kind of muscle up.”

Virginia’s roster includes several Californians, including graduate student Drake Metcalf. An offensive lineman who’s played center and guard this season, Metcalf grew up in Orange County and began his college career at Stanford, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree.

Defensive end Fisher Camac, who transferred to UVA from UNLV in January, is from Gilbert, Ariz. Never mind that his hometown is about 800 miles from Berkeley, Calif. For the Hoos to be playing on the West Coast is “super exciting,” Camac said. “I’ve got like 15 family members coming to the game.”

This will be the first-ever football game between two of the nation’s top public universities. Camac, however, faced the Golden Bears last season. He recorded four tackles for loss in UNLV’s 24-13 win over Cal in the Art of Sport LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk.

“It was an awesome game,” Camac recalled Tuesday. “I had three sacks. I missed one too, so I was more mad about that missed sack than the three I had, but it was fun getting the win with my Rebels last year.”

One of his former UNLV teammates, wide receiver Jacob De Jesus, is now at Cal. De Jesus, who wears jersey No. 21, leads the Golden Bears with 55 receptions for 492 yards and three touchdowns this season.

“He’s really spiced up their offense,” Camac said.

“No. 21 is electric,” Elliott said. “He’s a do-everything kind of guy.”

ROLE REVERSAL: Offense carried the Cavaliers through the first five games. Of late, as that group’s production has dipped, Virginia’s defense has stood tall.

In its past three games—overtime wins over Louisville and North Carolina and a two-point victory over Washington State—UVA has allowed a total of only 63 points and come up with seven takeaways.

Defensive back Ja’son Prevard has established himself as one of the team’s top playmakers. Early in the season, Prevard said Tuesday, the defense was “trying to find our identity, and I still don’t think we’ve found it completely. But I think we’re making great progress.”

For the Cavaliers, it’s “all about playing complementary football,” said Prevard, who made a game-saving tackle on the final play of the UNC game. “Every dog has their day, and I feel like our offense is going to find their groove. Like Coach said, the same offense that was scoring 40 points a night is still in this room. I feel like they’ll find their flow again.”

Heading into their Oct. 4 game at Louisville, the Hoos were averaging 45.6 points and 539.6 yards per game. Since then, they’ve totaled 237 yards against Louisville, 301 against Washington State, and 259 against UNC.

Elliott noted several times Tuesday that football is a “game of inches.” In the first part of the season, he said, the Cavaliers “were able to take advantage of those inches, and those inches were easier to capture. As the season goes on, those inches are much more difficult to capture.”

When a player’s “technique is off by an inch, when you miss on a punch by an inch, it’s magnified, and when your footwork is off by an inch,” Elliott said. “That’s beauty of offensive football and also the challenge. It takes all 11 guys on the same page. They’ve owned it. We owned it as coaches. So we’re gonna get better … I think the great thing about the game of football is there’s always humbling opportunities for you to get better. So I’m excited to see these guys get out there and get after it.”

UVA’s No. 1 center, Brady Wilson, who’d missed the previous three games with a calf injury, returned to the lineup against North Carolina. It was a not great day for the Cavaliers’ offensive line, which allowed six sacks, more than it had in the first seven games combined.

The line needs to focus on technique and fundamentals, Wilson said, “just going back to the small details, and then that’s where we’ll end up fixing it.”

Tailback Harrison Waylee also was asked about the offense’s recent struggles. “Our goal this week, our focus, is to play to our standard,” Waylee said.

Elliott said wide receiver Cam Ross, who missed the North Carolina game, should be available in Berkeley.

“He was out there yesterday getting some work in [at practice],” Elliott said, “and I got confirmation from the medical staff that he’ll be out there today working.”

Ross leads the Hoos in punt returns and kickoff returns, one of which he ran back 100 yards for a touchdown. He’s caught 28 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns and also has a 19-yard TD run.

ELDER STATESMAN: UVA safety Antonio Clary, who made his 2025 debut against Stanford on Sept. 20, played extensively in Chapel Hill after sophomore Ethan Minter left the game with an injury.

Clary, who’s in his seventh season as a Cavalier, made four tackles and intercepted a pass at Kenan Stadium. He’s had two major knee injuries during his college career, the first in 2019 and the second last fall.

“I’m still not 100 percent and I’m still trying to work to get there,” Clary said after the UNC game. “It’s just hard to do it during a season, just because of still doing rehab, doing lifts to strengthen it, and then trying to be out my best out there and feeling my best when I’m out there. So I’m getting close to it, but I’m still knocking off a lot of rust, and the more snaps I can get, that’s going to help me. But it felt good out there.”

Clary’s teammates and coaches like to rib him, Elliott said, “because he’s been here for a while. But that’s the most snaps that he’s played, and I’m just happy for him, because any time you’ve had multiple ACLs, it’s tough, and for him to battle back and to be in that position [is fantastic] … He’s one of those guys that was a very, very high vote-getter for us from a captain perspective, and he’s a guy that I really lean on. Matter of fact, we were in my office not too long ago just having a conversation, he and I. So I’m just super happy for him.”

As for Minter, “he’s going to be fine,” Elliott said.

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