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Tony Elliott on Deion Sanders' Spring Game Idea: “I’d be all for it”

Aidan Baller

Amber Searls-Imagn Images and Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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With college football in a completely new era with the transfer portal and larger amounts of NIL, similar to the opt-outs from players during bowl season, multiple schools have decided to cancel their spring football games with the logic that the negatives significantly outweigh the positives. These adverse outcomes include injuries while also a fear of showing flashes of schematics and roster layouts to other teams. So far, 19 Power Four programs have canceled their 2025 spring game. 

Despite this outpour of negativity surrounding spring games, Virginia football plans to go ahead with its spring football game on April 12th at Scott Stadium, with head coach Tony Elliott seeing many positive outcomes to the live action. 

"Your spring game is an opportunity to evaluate guys you haven't seen before, some of your younger and developmental guys," Tony Elliott said in a press conference on Monday. "We don't have preseason games, so it's an opportunity to create as close to a game-like situation in the stadium."

In response to the negativity surrounding spring games, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders offered an alternative proposal for his squad to play its spring game against an opponent this spring, calling any schools interested to reach out. The model would be similar to the NFL, with multiple joint practices before a culminating game at the end of the week. 

When asked about the proposal to play against another school in the spring, Elliott expressed openness to the new idea.  

"I'd be for it. We practice against each other so much," said Elliott. "The NFL guys have joint practices where they practice against each other and play four preseason games. It's another opportunity to truly evaluate your football team against somebody else." 

The NFL model Elliott refers to is the joint practices two NFL teams will hold in the preseason in which the two teams, who are not set to play each other in the regular season, will practice together for a week before putting their skills to the test in a preseason game at the end of the week. 

Like Elliott's ideology, Sanders emphasized that practicing only against your team can make assessing your roster's competitiveness and ability difficult. 

"To have it competitive, playing against your own guys kind of gets monotonous," Sanders said Monday in his first news conference since last season. "You really can't tell the level of your guys because it's the same old, same old. Everybody kind of knows each other."

Sanders is calling for any program around the country to come play his Buffaloes, even getting a response from Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. Elliott expressed interest in the idea of practicing with a school down the road. 

"I think you've got universities that are close enough to create some interest," said Elliott. 

Despite the buzz around spring game opponents, under current NCAA bylaws, football teams cannot face off against each other in the spring, a rule that would need to be amended to allow this exciting concept to take place. 

For now, the Virginia spring game will play as scheduled on Saturday, April 12th, at noon.

More Virginia Football News

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UVA Football: Dakota Twitty Ready to Emerge as Virginia's Starting Tight End

Anthony Britton: Virginia Entering "Foundation Phase" in Spring Football

Virginia Football Injury Report: Hoos In/Out for Spring Football?


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Aidan Baller
AIDAN BALLER

Aidan has been writing for Virginia Cavaliers On SI since January of 2023 and covers UVA football, basketball, men's soccer, and men's lacrosse. He is from New York and is currently in his fourth year at the University of Virginia, enrolled in the M.S. in Accounting program.