What Virginia Head Coach Tony Elliott Said About Boston College Ahead of Matchup
The Boston College Eagles (4-1, 1-0 ACC) football team is gearing up to start its ACC slate and it kicks off with a matchup against the Virginia Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va.
On Tuesday, Virginia head coach Tony Elliott spoke to the media about the upcoming contest and the challenge that the Eagles bring to the field.
“Same old BC,” said Elliott. “They take pride in smashmouth football, they lead with the run, they got a dynamic quarterback which may be a little bit different than some teams in the past just with his style of play but overall they want to line up and come at you and they’re gonna get in there. 12/13 personnel, they get into some sets where they don’t even have a wide receiver on the field and they just come at you, so that’s all I know is BC football regardless of who’s been the head coach.”
The third-year Cavaliers head coach mentioned what he believes is going to be key to coming out of the game with a victory.
“We just got to go out there and try to impose our will,” said Elliott. “This is gonna be a good test because it’s BC. That’s all I can say. For all the years that I’ve been in the ACC, we’ve played Boston College every year and it didn’t matter what their record was, it didn’t matter. These dudes are going to show up and they’re going to be hard-nosed guys, they’re going to be confident, they’re going to be tough, and they’re going to try to punch you in the mouth. So I think to answer that question, to sum it up, we got to be ready to come out and we got to attack and we got to punch first against these guys and we got to do it with the run game.”
Elliott spoke on junior quarterback Thomas Castellanos and his abilities at that position.
“He’s dynamic, he’s special, he’s a big play magnet and you’re starting to see the growth and maturity from him as well and I don’t know him personally but just watching him on tape as an outsider, you’re seeing his numbers are starting to improve especially in the passing game, the passing efficiency is up,” said Elliott. “When you watch him on tape, he looks like he’s in good command of what they’re doing and he also knows he has that joker in his back pocket because he can pull the ball down and he can go. He’s lightning quick, he’s extremely fast, he’s a tough runner too for his size so the challenge for us is going to start with our eyes… Guys in coverage are gonna have to do a great job of sticking with their guys because he can extend plays, a lot like AC. He can get out of the pocket and he can keep plays alive and he has a good knack for keeping them alive and then finding guys downfield for big plays.”
The 44-year-old also talked about Eagles defense end Donovan Ezeiruaku, who is coming off a career-best game against Western Kentucky.
“I think he’s one of the best in the country,” said Elliott. “He’s got a bunch of sacks, he’s very disruptive, he plays on both sides so you can’t get away from him… Just like any great pass rusher, you’re going to have to have a plan for him. You gotta know where he’s at at all times but the problem is it’s not just Donovan on the other side. No. 4 [Neto Okpala], he’s a pretty good pass rusher on his own, in his own right so it’s going to be exciting to see how our guys respond to the challenge.”
The two programa square off on Saturday at noon ET on ACC Network.
