Back in my political science days, I spent a lot of time trying to understand voter behavior and a big part of that was voter enthusiasm. Typically, if a candidate didn’t have much of it then it was unlikely to be a successful campaign.

Going into Year 2, it’s fair to say that on some level Tony Elliott and UVa football are struggling with a bit of a voter enthusiasm problem.

A year ago, fans were still getting to know the new staff but there was excitement among various parts of the fanbase about seeing things in action once spring ball began.

Given the way 2022 went, it’s natural to contrast how different it all feels so relatively soon thereafter. It’s also impossible not to look at the season ahead and ignore just what the schedule is likely to bring.

If Year 1 was hard, what’s in store this time around? If anything, it’s all made the task at hand exponentially harder.

Waning attendance/engagement, frustrating on-field performances, and some impactful defections into the transfer portal—let alone the way the season ended with the tragic slayings of three players at the hands of a fellow student—have left some to wonder how the Hoos will bounce back.

What does that look like?

If it is to happen, a good bit of the groundwork for such a sea change will have to be put down this spring.

Gone, of course, is Brennan Armstrong. After the tumultuous season that was for the program’s all-time leader, it’s hard to say the decision to leave wasn’t the right one for all involved. In his place, it would appear Tony Muskett is going to eventually be QB1. The new No. 11 certainly fits the bill from a resume standpoint, having passed for nearly 2,000 yards last season in addition to tossing 17 TDs for Monmouth. The Virginia native was one of the better signal callers in the portal and Elliott did well to bring him home.

Right or wrong, a lot will likely be on his shoulders.

Muskett was one of several prominent transfer additions, including the new No. 5, Kobe Pace, a former running back for Elliott at Clemson. Joining them in the offense will be former Northwestern wide receiver Malik Washington, which given the needs of that group could be someone the offense will have to lean on as much as anyone, as well as offensive lineman Ugonna Nnanna, the 6-foot-4, 300 pounder from Houston.

The fact that UVa won’t be able to pair him with Daijon Parker up front was and remains a tough beat for the Cavaliers. Had they been able to make the hire of OL coach Terry Heffernan prior to Parker’s decision to flip to Iowa, it’s fair to wonder what the tangible impact on 2023 (and beyond) might have been. The positions on offense that Elliott and Co. must figure out are plenty but none seems more important than the line. That’s a sentence that’s employs a common refrain in Charlottesville in recent years.

Iowa was also the final destination for another lost playmaker in Nick Jackson, a former All-ACC linebacker who was the heart and soul of the Cavalier defense for years. But if there’s a glimmer of hope after losing Jackson and CB Fentrell Cypress to the portal (Florida State), it’s not only that John Rudzinski was able to put together such a better group in 2022 compared to the previous season or two but also that the cupboard is far from bare. In addition to some younger guys with promise, the Hoos return several important pieces off last year’s unit that could be elsewhere, namely Paul Akere, Chico Bennett, Kam Butler, and Aaron Faumui. They’re also buoyed by the additions of former Carolina DB Cam’Ron Kelly, a 757 product, and former Iowa State CB Tayvonn Kyle in the defensive backfield.

All told, there’s plenty of reason to think the defense can be good. There’s also, right or wrong, plenty of reason to think it’ll need to be. That was the case with or without Armstrong given the way last fall went. And that was especially the case once Wahoo legend Marques Hagans left for Penn State.

The reality is that in order to generate the kind of buzz many programs would get in the second year of a new regime, the Cavaliers are going to have to prove it and earn it on the field.

The work to prepare for that gauntlet begins in earnest in less than two weeks time.

A year ago, the word that seemed to bounce around the program, both in quotes and on T-shirts, was “Foundation.” Now, amid a quest to figure out what’s still left to build on, the accelerated timeline is impossible to ignore.

It’s also the frame through which most will gauge their own level of enthusiasm.