Tony Elliott shares thoughts on Miami's defense

Head coach Tony Elliott just picked up his first ACC win as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers against Georgia Tech last Saturday. He’ll be in search of his second ACC win in his inaugural season as the head man in Charlottesville this weekend against the Miami Hurricanes. Elliott will be facing off against a familiar foe, Hurricanes’ defensive coordinator Kevin Steele. He’s one of the most experienced assistants in all of college football, with 38 years under his belt. In a press conference earlier this week, Elliott shared some thoughts on Steele and the ‘Canes defense, since the two coaches were on the same staff for a few years with the Clemson Tigers.

“Coach Steele, first, he’s a South Carolina guy. So, we share those roots. One, I worked with him at Clemson. We met when I first got there. He was very, very good to me first and foremost. So, I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for who he is as a person. And how he was as a co-worker. But then having competed against him when he was at Auburn and then at Clemson for a little while. And now at Miami,” Elliott said.

“One, his guys are going to be fundamentally sound. He’s fundamentally sound. He’s going to attack your protections. He’s one of the best at applying pressure, attacking your protections. And then, he’s gonna have his guys geared into the clues of what you’re doing from a formation standpoint. And that’s why he’s one of the best in the business. So, great challenge for us as coaches. And then, also for us personnel wise on the field. Because you’re going to be challenged physically, first and foremost. And then you’re going to be challenged schematically,” Elliott said.

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More than anything, the biggest problem for the Virginia coaching staff won’t be necessarily what defense they’ll be facing, but if can they figure out causality of the dramatic fall from grace by their quarterback Brennan Armstrong–who set numerous ACC and school records last fall. Last year under offensive coordinator Robert Anae and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck, he set the Virginia record for single season passing yards in just his ninth game in the 2021 campaign. After it was said and done, Armstrong had torched opposing defenses to the tune of 4,449 passing yards, passing Bryce Perkins’ school record of 3,538 passing yards he set in 2019.

This season, Armstrong has looked nothing like the quarterback he was last year, only completing 55.3 percent of his passes for 1,618 yards, while tossing in six touchdowns and nine interceptions. His receivers certainly haven’t helped. The Virginia receivers have ranked among the worst in college football in dropped passes for most of this season. It doesn’t make much sense, since the unit was expected to be one of the best in the country for the 2022-2023 season. Whatever the issues may be, the Cavaliers will need to get those fixed moving forward, because their passing attack has not played anywhere near the level that they are capable of playing.

Virginia and Miami kick off on Saturday, Oct. 29. Kick off time is slated for 12:30 PM EST and the game will be televised on ESPN3.