UVA hopes to ‘inspire people’ in 2023, coach says

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Virginia coach Tony Elliott knows that as the season gets closer, his team will have many reminders about how much they have endured since three players were shot and killed in November 2022.

But he also knows they are playing for a higher purpose, as Elliott and his players want to honor the legacies of Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler.

As the season opens against Tennessee in September, Elliott said he believes his team will be prepared to show a unity in purpose and spirit.

“That’s what my hope is, that this football team plays in a way that inspires people, and I think a lot of people are looking for that too,” Elliott told ESPN. “They want to see this football team be an inspiration.

“Everyone is going to judge the outcome, but what I’m going to be judging is the quality of their heart and the effort they put in — to show people the positives of what the human spirit is capable of.”

Elliott said the Cavaliers have responded well during spring practice and offseason workouts: “You see a lot more unity, a lot more camaraderie, more sense of purpose, great energy.” But grief is not the same for everybody, so Elliott has made sure to allow the proper time and space for players and coaches to heal.

Chandler, Davis and Perry were shot and killed Nov. 13, 2022, after returning to campus from a class trip to Washington. Running back Mike Hollins, who was shot and wounded, returned to school, earned his degree and is set to play this season.

Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a Virginia student and former member of the football team who was on the trip, has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Prosecutors also charged him with two counts of malicious wounding and additional gun-related charges connected to the shooting of Hollins and another student, Marlee Morgan.

Elliott said Virginia has plans to honor and acknowledge the families of Chandler, Perry and Davis throughout the season, but no details have been announced.

Running back Perris Jones said he has been inspired to “carry Devin’s smile, carry D’Sean’s thoughtfulness, carry Lavel’s humor.”

“I think that’s a part of our responsibility is to carry forward who those guys were and make sure that doesn’t die out because they had gifts to offer the world,” Jones said.

“There’s a different sense of urgency and different energy, a different sense of purpose, and it’s driving us,” Jones added. “You can sense that standing in the locker room, standing in our workouts and our practices. We’re just happy to be there, and I think that happiness and that gratefulness is coming from those guys. That was the energy that they possessed. That’s what we try to carry forward in everything that we do.”

Elliott said the players who decided to stay at Virginia have inspired him headed into the season.

“Unless you’re in it, it’s hard to have an appreciation for it,” Elliott said. “But all of the guys that came back to the University of Virginia, they chose to come back. They chose to embrace what it was, knowing that it’s going to be a tough road ahead. I’m excited to see them respond.”