Virginia Football Offense Preview: What to Expect From UVA's Revamped Offense?

After a disastrous start to the Tony Elliott era on the offensive side of the ball, here's why the Cavaliers could improve offensively in 2023

As has been quite clear to those who follow the program, the last two seasons of Virginia football have been polar opposites in terms of strengths and weaknesses. In 2021, what would be the final season of the Bronco Mendenhall era, the Cavaliers put up gaudy offensive numbers, but were held back by an appallingly ineffective defensive unit. In the first season of the Tony Elliott era, new defensive coordinator John Rudzinski orchestrated a remarkable turnaround for the UVA defense, which experienced vast improvements, but the Cavalier offense, largely populated by the same personnel as the year before, struggled mightily to put points on the board. 

A great deal of the blame for Virginia's offensive ineptitude was levied against offensive coordinator Des Kitchings and the "pro-style" offense implemented by Kitchings and Elliott. Others attributed the shortcomings to regressions by Brennan Armstrong, who struggled with errant passes, and his receivers, who had uncharacteristic drops and were frequently not on the same page as Armstrong. To put all of the blame solely on either the coaches or the players is shortsighted. The players had difficulty adopting a new system and the coaches had difficulty adapting their strategies to their players' talents.

Now, entering year 2 of the Tony Elliott era, we get to really see what this coaching staff is made of. UVA essentially has a clean slate roster across the board, for better or for worse. With the season almost upon us, let's take examine Virginia's personnel at each offensive position. 

Quarterback

Beginning of course with the most important position on the field, Virginia has a change at quarterback for the first time in three years with Monmouth transfer Tony Muskett coming in to replace the departed Brennan Armstrong. Muskett produced at a high level in his time with the Hawks, amassing more than 5,600 passing yards and 51 touchdowns in 23 starts. But that was against FCS competition, making his ability to translate his game to Power Five football one of the biggest questions facing the Cavaliers this season. Still, Muskett operated in a similar offensive system at Monmouth as the one Virginia is implementing now, so there's a solid chance he'll be able to function better in this system than Armstrong did last year. Behind Muskett is true freshman Anthony Colandrea, who has dazzled in practices and scrimmages since arriving on Grounds in January. It's not quite his time yet, but Colandrea has a bright future as UVA's quarterback later on in his career. Depth is certainly an issue for the Cavaliers at quarterback, but in a season where expectations are low, Colandrea getting some real-game experience as a freshman wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for Virginia's long-term program outlook. 

Running Back

Having an effective rushing attack, something UVA's lacked for the last several seasons, requires both capable running backs and a functional offensive line. We'll get to the offensive line later, but the Cavaliers have the horses in the backfield to get the job done. Virginia's running back room is the deepest offensive unit on the roster, with anywhere from 5-7 tailbacks capable of getting significant carries. At the top of the depth chart to start the season will likely be Perris Jones, Virginia's lead back from last season, Clemson transfer Kobe Pace, who was second in the ACC in average yards per carry in 2021, and graduate Mike Hollins, whose recovery and return to the field is one of the most inspirational stories in college football. Xavier Brown, Amaad Foston, Cody Brown, and Jack Griese give the Cavaliers plenty of options for reliable ball-carriers in various downs and distances. 

Wide Receiver

UVA's wide receiver unit contains lots of new faces, including some promising breakout candidates. Northwestern transfer Malik Washington, who had 65 catches for 694 yards last season, is the most experienced player in the room and will look to replace the production of Billy Kemp IV and Keytaon Thompson in the slot. JR Wilson, Malachi Fields, and Demick Starling are UVA's new trio on the outside. Fields is a popular pick for a breakout season as he missed most of last year with an injury, but then shined in UVA's last game of the season with five catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Wilson also played well in the last couple of games and the UVA coaching staff spoke highly of Starling in fall camp. Some possible impact freshmen are Jaden Gibson, Suderian Harrison, and TyLyric Coleman. 

Tight End

Tight end might be the most stable position on UVA's offensive roster. The Cavaliers have an abundance of experience returning at the position with Grant Misch and Sackett Wood coming back. Misch and Wood have played in a combined 67 games over the course of their careers and offer valuable leadership for a young offense. There are some other tight ends on the roster who could contribute - Karson Gay, Josh Rawlings, and freshman TeKai Kirby come to mind - but Misch and Wood are the definite top two.

Offensive Line

Naturally, the offensive line is the biggest question mark on UVA's roster. Junior center Ty Furnish is the only returning starter and junior guards Noah Josey and Jestus Johnson and sophomore tackle McKale Boley are the only other returning players who played significant snaps in 2022. Transfers Brian Stevens, Ugonna Nnanna, and Jimmy Christ will plug some holes, but health has already become an issue with Christ and Boley missing significant time in fall camp with injuries. With that said, Virginia has a new offensive line coach in Terry Heffernan, who has several years of experience managing offensive lines in both college football and the NFL. We haven't had a chance to speak with Heffernan since the end of fall camp, but Elliott and Kitchings have said they are pleased with the depth and improvements the unit has made in the preseason. If the key players can get and stay healthy and develop some cohesion, Virginia's offensive line could surprise people in 2023. 

Outlook

It should be noted that in what was by far Virginia's best offensive game of the season in 2022 - a 31-28 loss to ACC runner-up North Carolina in which the Cavaliers put up 418 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns on each of their four trips to the red zone (an unheard of trend for the rest of the season) - UVA's starting wide receivers missed the game with various injuries. Instead, some new faces shined. JR Wilson had five catches for 61 yards, Demick Starling hauled in a 40-yard reception, and Sackett Wood caught six passes for 94 yards. UVA was able to effectively run the ball in that game, with Armstrong reaching the end zone with his legs twice, and Ronnie Walker Jr. and Xavier Brown scoring rushing touchdowns as well. It was the best example that Kitchings and Elliott's offensive system could be run effectively and was facilitated by many of the same players who now take over leading roles on the roster. 

This season, Virginia's offense is "out with the old and in with the new." Tony Muskett is the quarterback the Cavaliers wanted out of the transfer portal and seems to be what the coaching staff wanted him to be so far. Elliott and Kitchings say they are seeing good progress in terms of offensive implementation and the word from nearly every player we spoke to in fall camp is that there's significantly more buy-in from the team this year than last year. Our prediction is that this means Virginia will see significant improvements on the offensive side of the ball this season. 

Of course, it's hard for the offense to get much worse than it was last season. Out of 131 teams, Virginia ranked 126th in scoring offense, 103rd in total offense, 102nd in rushing offense, 81st in passing offense, and 119th in red zone offense. But that's not why we think UVA will be better offensively. Our main reasons have to do with the personnel being better tailored to the system, more buy-in from the roster, and those players having a better understanding of the offense now than a season ago. 

But also, it doesn't hurt that we're predicting them to surpass such a low bar. 

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