Cavaliers Now

Elliott Makes Three Hires to Strength & Conditioning UVA Football Staff

These three assistants will serve under head strength and conditioning coach Adam Smotherman

Matt Newton

On Friday morning, Virginia football head coach Tony Elliott announced the hiring of three assistant strength and conditioning coaches to fill out the new UVA football strength and conditioning coaching staff. Will Harrison, Drew McDuffie, and Jaylan Reid will serve under new head strength and conditioning coach Adam Smotherman, who was hired from Clemson, and Nate Pototschnik, who was retained from Bronco Mendenhall's coaching staff and subsequently promoted to the position of associate strength and conditioning coach. 

Harrison (Kansas), McDuffie (Duke), and Reid (Virginia Tech) each come to Virginia having served as assistant strength and conditioning coaches at other Power Five football programs, but Harrison and McDuffie both started their coaching careers as assistants on the strength and conditioning staffs at Clemson and Reid started as a strength and conditoning intern at Furman in South Carolina. 

Will Harrison played for Clemson and then was a student assistant on the strength and conditioning staff for the Tigers. After one season as a strength and conditioning intern at Colorado, Harrison then spent a few seasons as an assistant sports performance coach at Wyoming and filled a similar role at Kansas for the last two seasons, primarily working in nutrition and recovery.  

Drew McDuffie served an an undergraduate and then a graduate assistant on Clemson's strength and conditioning staff and worked with the Tiger quarterbacks, including Deshaun Watson. For the last five seasons, McDuffie has been an assistant director of sports performance at Duke. Among other duties, McDuffie again worked with the Blue Devils' quarterbacks, including Daniel Jones. 

Jaylan Reid spent last season as an assistant director for strength and conditioning at Virginia Tech. Before that, Reid was a graduate assistant at Georgia State and strength and conditioning intern at Furman, where he also played as a four-year starting nose tackle. Reid led the Paladins to the 2018 Southern Conference Championship and was awarded the 2018-2019 Iron Paladin Award, presented to the male-student athlete most dedicated to strength and conditioning. 

The five-man team of Adam Smotherman, Nate Pototschnik, Will Harrison, Drew McDuffie, and Jaylan Reid make up the core of the new UVA football strength and conditioning coaching staff. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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