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6 CAVALIER CORNER cavalier sports T ony Elliott is heading into his third season in charge of the Virginia football program. Cavalier Corner sat down with him to discuss his outlook for spring practice. Cavalier Corner: What are the priorities for the program this spring? Elliott: "It's a reset. Getting back to the basics, learning from the evaluation and our self-scout, correcting the things we need to correct, eliminating the things that didn't make us better and building competitive depth. "I want to compete, have fun and then also really start forging that unity and bond as a team. Let's build on the things that we did good and eliminate things we didn't do well." Cavalier Corner: With a small number of first-years enrolling in the fall and 10 trans- fers enrolling at mid-year, this fall's team is basically here this spring. How do you take advantage of that? Elliott: "It's good for the guys, the addi- tions, to have a chance to get out there and compete and see where they mix in with the guys that we currently have. It's a benefit to have everybody, or mostly everybody, here for the spring. You get a chance to get a head start on the team unity, the bonding, the chemistry. "You can create some great momentum going into the summer. With several of the vet- eran guys out for the spring for rehab, it gives the young guys an opportunity to grow and develop." Cavalier Corner: What do you, as the head coach, personally enjoy most about spring practice? Elliott: "I get to go out there and coach. That's the best part. Obviously you're plan- ning, but you're not game planning. You get to evaluate, watch and interact with the guys. You get to be more of an actual on-the-field, hands-on coach because you don't have as many of the other things pulling at you. Plus, the structure is a little bit different too with the space between practices. "You can manage your schedule a little bit better to really be dialed in on just get- ting out there and coaching ball." Cavalier Corner: There's been a lot of activ- ity in the offseason with the college football, playoffs expanding, NIL, talk of recruiting calendars. If you could be the football czar for a day and make one change with the sport, what would you want to do? Elliott: "Create some unified direction and consistency in what we're trying to get ac- complished and basically put some structure back into [the sport]. "There's a lot of positives to the things that are talked about, but anything that doesn't have clear, concise parameters, instruction and direction makes it difficult to create the ability for equitable competition across the board." Cavalier Corner: The Football Operations Center is close to opening and you're going to be out there every day looking at the last stages of that construction project. How exciting is that? Elliott: "It is super exciting to see it truly coming to life, first and foremost, for [UVA athletics director] Carla [Williams] and her vision with the Master Plan. It's super excit- ing for the current players, the former play- ers, all the guys who thought that they were going to be in the building. "Now there's actually a group that's going to get to move in. I'm excited for the ones that didn't have a chance to be housed in this building. They get to come back. Re- cruits get to come and see it. "Overall, I think it just creates evidence of the commitment that there is to successful football here at University of Virginia." five questions with Football Head Coach Tony Elliott Elliott emphasized the team will be taking a back-to-basics approach to spring football, looking to build competitive depth. (Photo by Jim Daves/courtesy UVA)