Virginia’s Tony Elliott is looking for a step forward with a reworked roster in his 4th season

By Canadian Press on August 21, 2025.

Tony Elliott has spent his first three seasons at Virginia focused on building a long-term winner. He’s hoping this year provides the return on that investment.

The Cavaliers (5-7) are still waiting for their first bowl appearance under Elliott, who took over for the 2022 season after working on Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson. Elliott is banking on a reworked roster to offer better depth to help change that as pressure increases for a clear step forward, noting that the team held a lead in nine of its 12 games last year.

“I knew that we were trying to build something here and that it would take time,” Elliott said at the start of preseason camp.

Elliott has gone 11-23 in three seasons, including 6-17 in league play. Last year’s team flirted with bowl eligibility and hit five wins in the first half of November, but lost its last three games — two against College Football Playoff teams Notre Dame and SMU, the capper at rival Virginia Tech — while trailing by at least 24 in each.

Elliott pointed to the roster having 54 new players, including 32 transfers in a haul that 247Sports ranks as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s fourth-best transfer infusion. Still, Virginia lost 14 offensive and defensive starters and is picked to finish 14th in the 17-team ACC race.

“We feel like we targeted the right guys,” Elliott said. “We addressed some needs that we had from a body-type standpoint, some length, some speed at specific positions, but in particular in the trenches. … I’m very hopeful.”

Outside motivation?

Elliott said he wold “try to poke and prod” the players a bit with the Cavaliers’ projected ACC standing.

“We’re not going to let that poll define us,” Elliott said. “And we darn sure aren’t going to let people make us think less of ourselves. Because, man, we know what we’re working towards.”

Morris’ arrival

The transfer haul includes quarterback Chandler Morris, who is attending his fourth school in a six-season run that began in 2020 during the pandemic. He spent that first year at Oklahoma, followed by three seasons with nine starts at TCU.

Last year, Morris threw for 3,774 yards and 31 touchdowns against 12 interceptions while also running for four scores at North Texas.

“I think being at different stops and being around many different teammates has really helped me,” Morris said. “And I think my experience, not just the success but also the adversity that I’ve faced, I’ve been able to really connect more with my teammates.”

Longer-term struggles

Virginia’s struggles go back long before Elliott’s slow start.

The Cavaliers are 62-94 overall and 36-68 in league play going back to the 2012 season, with the 62 wins marking the lowest of any current ACC member outside of last year’s additions of SMU, California and Stanford.

Virginia won 17 games in 2018 and 2019 under Bronco Mendenhall, including a trip to ACC title game in the latter year. Those mark the only two seasons that Virginia has surpassed the six-win mark in those 13 seasons.

The schedule

The Cavaliers open at home against Coastal Carolina (Aug. 28) before visiting longtime ACC member N.C. State (Sept. 6) in a nonconference game that won’t count in the league standings as it was added outside the conference’s scheduling model.

Virginia’s official ACC opener is at Stanford (Sept. 20) followed by a visit from Florida State (Sept. 26). There’s also a midseason visit from Washington State (Oct. 18).

The Cavaliers have their first cross-country ACC trip to California (Nov. 1) and close against instate rival Virginia Tech (Nov. 29).

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Aaron Beard, The Associated Press