One thing is likely as Virginia embarks on its first spring of practices under new football coach Tony Elliott: Things should look a little different on the fields at the McCue Center.

Hired in December, Elliott and his staff will lead the Wahoos through 15 practices over the next month, beginning on Monday and culminating with the spring game on April 23rd at Scott Stadium. It will be their first chance to work on the field with a roster that currently includes just one player recruited by the new coaches: Grad transfer defensive end Jack Camper, who enrolled in January but is still recovering from a torn triceps suffered last season at Michigan State.

Previous coach Bronco Mendenhall, who stepped down in December, used his first preseason as an opportunity to hit a hard reset on the culture of the UVa football program. He stripped players of jersey numbers and V-Sabres and forced them to earn their way onto the practice field by passing a conditioning test.

That was six years ago. Jersey numbers are again missing from UVa’s online roster, but it’s not clear whether that will still be the case when the team takes the practice field this spring. Elliott indicated in February that he’d consider continuing Mendenhall’s annual number-earning tradition, but seemed more inclined to adopt a more traditional approach.

Aesthetics aside, spring ball will allow the new staff to get a sense of the talent they’re working with at UVa and fine-tuning schemes to utilize those players. Some uncertainties, like what scheme the defense will adopt or how the Hoos plan to rebuild the offensive line, have already been touched on already this offseason. But with spring ball opening next week, a look at some other questions about the Virginia football team entering this new era:

Since his introductory news conference, Elliott has emphasized the desire to be more balanced offensively. Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, a former running backs coach at both the college and NFL level, has said the same.

As coordinator at Clemson, Elliott utilized running backs with more consistency than the previous coaching staff at UVa did. Among the running backs who played for Elliott in his Clemson tenure was two-time ACC Player of the Year Travis Etienne, who had a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons and averaged 47 catches out of the backfield his final two seasons. Last year, Clemson ran the ball on 54.1 percent of its offensive snaps; almost three-quarters of the Tigers’ rushing attempts came from running backs.

That’s a different workload than UVa’s running backs saw under the previous staff. The Hoos only ran the ball on 38 percent of snaps last year; running backs got less than half of the team’s rushing attempts.

Entering spring ball, there are three running backs on the roster: Mike Hollins, Ronnie Walker and Amaad Foston, who redshirted last fall. Incoming freshman Xavier Brown will augment that group this summer. With 213 rushing yards and 16 catches for 83 yards, Hollins was the most productive among those returnees in 2021. This spring will give coaches an opportunity to identify how those upperclassmen can contribute to a backfield that is likely to be more involved this season.

Longtime stalwarts like Joey Blount, De’Vante Cross and Nick Grant have moved on. It’s time for a new generation of defensive backs to get an opportunity to step into bigger roles in the UVa secondary.

With those veterans anchoring the back end of the defense, UVa gave up 240.2 passing yards per game—an improvement from the 304.4 passing yards opponents averaged in 2020, but still ranking ninth in the ACC and 87th nationally. New defensive backs coach Curome Cox will also assume defensive passing game coordinator responsibilities; defensive coordinator John Rudzinski will also coach defensive backs. Those two came as a package deal from Air Force, where the Falcons ranked 19th nationally in passing yards allowed, giving up just 194.4 per game.

The new staff does inherit some experience. Cornerback Anthony Johnson started 11 games last year in his first season after transferring from Louisville. Darrius Bratton is back for a sixth year after making a dozen career starts at corner. Former walk-on Coen King played the most snaps of any safety back from last year. Safety Antonio Clary and cornerback Fentrell Cypress saw the most extensive playing time of their careers last year as well.

Behind that group is a collection of more than a dozen unproven younger players. All are in at least their second season in the UVa program—the secondary is the only position group where the new staff hasn’t added a player either in the 2022 recruiting class or the transfer portal. Those inexperienced defensive backs head into spring practice with a clean slate and new position coaches, and a chance to play their way into roles this fall.

There was no more popular question among certain corners of the UVa fan base last fall than whether Lavel Davis would be back to bolster the Cavaliers’ already explosive offense.

Ultimately, that comeback didn’t happen. It’ll be a year next month since the ligament tear in his right knee ended Davis’s second season at Virginia. Instead of following up on a freshman year in which he caught 20 passes for 515 yards and five touchdowns in eight games, the 6-foot-7 receiver could only watch as Brennan Armstrong and company rewrite the school’s passing game record book.

Davis told reporters at Elliott’s introduction in December that his knee was back to pre-injury strength and had begun running routes again, though he’d been ruled out for the Cavaliers’ Fenway Bowl appearance (that was eventually canceled). He’s been participating in UVA’s offseason workouts under new strength and conditioning coach Adam Smotherman without restrictions.

Spring ball will give UVa fans a chance to finally see what they were hoping for last fall: Davis again making plays and giving Armstrong another big target in the Wahoos’ passing game.

While most of the Hoos have spent the past few months enduring those workouts at the McCue Center, the team’s backup quarterback has posted a 0.90 ERA in seven appearances out of the bullpen for the UVa baseball team.

When Armstrong announced in January that he’d return to UVa for a fifth season, the new coaching staff gave a proverbial sigh of relief. Not only was the quarterback who authored the most prolific season in program history—Armstrong’s 4,449 passing yards and 31 touchdowns were both the most ever by a UVa QB—coming back to school. It also meant they wouldn’t have to deal with a scenario where Jay Woolfolk, who appeared in five games with one start as a true freshman last fall, would be the most experienced quarterback on the roster.

Woolfolk joined the baseball program in January, with Elliott and Brian O’Connor agreeing that the right-hander would be a full-time pitcher until the start of spring football. Woolfolk’s seven appearances are tied for most on the UVa pitching staff through 17 games. His fastball has been sitting in the mid-90s and touched 99 mph in a recent outing.

With football practice on the horizon, the freshman’s schedule is about to get busier.

“I’m gonna be football in the morning, class and then baseball,” Woolfolk told CavsCorner last month. “So yeah, that’s gonna be the plan.”

Woolfolk is one of three scholarship quarterbacks on the UVa roster entering spring ball, along with Armstrong and first-year Davis Lane, who enrolled in January. Walk-on Jared Rayman has moved back to quarterback this spring. Another freshman, Delaney Crawford, will arrive this summer. There could be plenty of work for Woolfolk on the football field these next few weeks in practice—just as there has been on the pitcher’s mound across the street at Disharoon Park in recent weeks.

Like spring training in baseball, hope springs eternal on the practice field during spring football.

With veterans moving on, spring ball is annually a chance to identify which unproven players could step into bigger roles in the fall. That process may be a bit more challenging at UVa this spring with the coaching change bringing scheme and role changes, but a few names jump out when scanning the roster for candidates.

On offense, receiver Malachi Fields caught 11 passes for 172 yards as a true freshman in 2021. The 6-foot-4 native of Charlottesville could work his way into more targets as a sophomore with a strong spring. So could rising third-year receiver Demick Starling, who displayed his big-play ability with a 65-yard touchdown catch in last year’s season opener against William & Mary. Rising second-year players Noah Josey and Logan Taylor are among the o-linemen who will get plenty of work this spring before reinforcements arrive this summer.

With grad transfer defensive linemen Paul Akere and Kam Butler also not due to arrive until after the semester, younger d-linemen like Michael Diatta, Bryce Carter and Lorenz Terry will have an opportunity to impress the new staff. D’Sean Perry and Mike Green showed flashes coming off the edge in limited roles last year; redshirt freshman Josh McCarron, another outside linebacker, was a four-star recruit. As true freshmen last fall, defensive backs Jonas Sanker and Langston Long both burned redshirts mostly for their play on special teams, but did see time on defense in a few games.

There will be jobs up for grabs in the coming months at the McCue Center. This spring is a chance for some new names to emerge under the new coaching staff.

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