Virginia tailback Perris Jones, in the moments after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Louisville defensive back Cam’ron Kelly in a Nov. 9 game, couldn’t feel anything, his body numb.

On Tuesday, less than three weeks later, Jones walked out of UofL Health’s Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, to head back to Charlottesville to continue his rehab.

“If you can make it through the night, there’s a brighter day. I stand by that,” Jones said Tuesday, an emotional day for a lot of people associated with this story.

Jones was on the turf, motionless, for several minutes after the hit.

As he came to grips with what had happened, Jones said he “closed my eyes and said a quick prayer.”

In the immediate aftermath, the prayer was answered in the form of a quick response from the training and medical staffs on both sidelines.

Jones was stabilized on the field and taken to UofL Health, where the next day, he underwent spinal surgery.

He was kept in intensive care for a week before being transferred to the Frazier Rehabilitation Institute on Nov. 17.

It was expected at the outset that he may be at UofL Health for several weeks, but Jones – a former walk-on who worked his way into a scholarship and then a two-year stint as Virginia’s starting tailback – is accustomed to exceeding others’ expectations.

“Every injury is unique, and even patients with the identical injury to Perris with the same level of severity might have a different outcome. However, this is a young man who doesn’t stop. He’s a young athlete that we actually had to stop him because he kept going, going and going,” said Dr. Camilo Castillo, the director of spinal cord injuries at the Frazier Rehabilitation Institute.

There’s still a lot of work to do for Jones. The injury, per Castillo, resulted in his upper body being weaker than his legs, and his right side to be weaker than the left.

Rehab from a serious injury doesn’t come with linear progress.

It’s a lot of fits and starts.

“It’s been a bit challenging for me, because with football, it’s such a merit-based system. You work so hard, and you get rewarded for your efforts and actions,” Jones said. “Dr. Castillo reminded me that this is not like that, because you can work as hard as you want, but there’s no guarantee that everything will come back as you want it to. So, just being patient throughout the process and making sure to take it a day at a time.”

What has helped him through is his faith, which is obviously unshakable.

“Since being here and since everything happened, it’s not something that you plan for, it’s not something that you ever expect to happen, it’s not something you want to happen, but it did. I’m a firm believer in Jesus Christ. That’s something I stand on, so I firmly believe everything happens for a reason,” Jones said.

He also has his roommate, Mike Hollins, who was left with life-threatening injuries in the Nov. 13, 2022, mass shooting that killed three of their UVA Football teammates – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – to serve as inspiration.

“That’s my warrior right there,” Jones said. “If he can do it, I can do it, too.”

Tuesday was a good day for Jones and the Virginia Football family, a celebration of perseverance from a group that has had to endure a lot over the past year.

But Jones isn’t out of the woods yet.

“It really does come down to grit,” UofL Chief Medical Officer Jason Smith said. “I remind folks that sometimes, we have the easy part, and then it relies on the patient’s grit and determination to get the outcome they have.”

Jones is going to need more grit and determination to get to the endgame with rehab.

Grit comes with the territory with Perris Jones, who overcame the odds just getting on the football field at Virginia.

“That’s one thing I’ve held on to throughout the process, because you’re going to have good and bad days because coming from being a walk-on,” Jones said. “Man, that’s a rough lifestyle, but I’m grateful for it, and it built me into who I am today, because you can work so hard and not get anything, but it’s about the vision you have for yourself, your outlook and goals, and if you stay committed to that, then there’s no such thing as a bad day.”

Perris’ Road to Recovery

Message from Andrea Shine, Perris Jones’ mother:

My son Perris Jones, a University of Virginia running back, was recently involved in a spinal injury during his football game against Louisville. Currently, he is starting his journey of recovery at a rehabilitation center working on regaining the function of his hands after the life-altering injury.

Although he is unable to step on the field to play again, his future is still bright. This GoFundMe is intended to support Perris as he figures out the next steps in his journey of recovery and independence.

Thank you for being a source of strength, hope, and support during this critical time in Perris’s life.

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Virginia wideout Malik Washington and safety Jonas Sanker were first-team selections for the 2023 All-ACC Football team.

The conference announced its All-ACC teams on Tuesday.

Three Cavaliers were honorable-mention selections: defensive lineman Aaron Faumui, wideout Malachi Fields and center Brian Stevens.

The All-ACC teams were chosen by a voting panel of 51 media members and each of the league’s 14 head coaches for a total of 65 voters.

Not that you care, but I wasn’t one of the media members. (Neither am I a head coach.)

The votes were tabulated on a scale giving three points for a first-place vote, two for a second-place vote, and one for a third-place vote.

Washington’s 182 points were the most of any ACC player in the 2023 balloting. The Northwestern grad transfer set an ACC single-season record with 110 catches this season, and his total of 1,426 yards receiving the fifth-most in ACC history.

Washington had 10 100-yard receiving games, which led the nation, and his 110 catches also leads the nation at the conclusion of the 2023 regular season.

Sanker garnered All-ACC honors for the first time in his career. The junior led the ACC and ranked second in the country with 6.1 solo tackles per game. His 107 total tackles and 8.9 total tackles per game were the third-most in the league.

Sanker became the first Cavaliers defensive back to eclipse the 100-tackle mark since Quin Blanding in 2017.

Faumui’s honorable-mention selection is his second straight. From his interior line position, Faumui totaled 32 tackles (13 solo) and a team-high 6.5 tackles for loss in 2023..

Fields caught 58 passes and accumulated 811 receiving yards to go along with five touchdowns receptions. He ranked in the top-five in the league in receiving yards (fourth), receiving yards per game (fifth – 67.6), receptions (sixth) and receptions per game (seventh – 4.83).

Fields had 60 or more receiving yards in 11 of 12 games this season and 39 of his 58 receptions went for first downs.

Stevens, a grad transfer from Dayton, started all 12 games for the Cavaliers, two at guard before transitioning to center for the final 10 games. He sported the fourth-highest Pro Football Focus grade (77.3) for centers in the country and was the top-graded run-blocking center in the ACC.

Stevens allowed one sack in 476 pass dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.

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Mike Ingalls, the godfather of UVA Athletics coverage on the interwebs, is joining the staff at AFP as a regular contributor this week, beginning with our team coverage of the UVA-Texas A&M game in JPJ on Wednesday night.

Ingalls is best known for launching The Sabre, which began as VirginiaFootball.com back in 1996, when the internet was still in its infancy.

The site was an early hit with UVA fans – if you’re of age, you no doubt remember Ingalls’ iconic photo of UVA wideout Ahmad Hawkins celebrating his 47-yard TD catch-and-sprint that completed the stunning 36-32 comeback win over Virginia Tech in 1998.

In addition to editorial and photography, the parts of the job that you see, Ingalls was the man pushing the important buttons behind the scenes at The Sabre, handling the design and technology aspects of the site.

It’s just dumb luck for us that we now get to work with Ingalls, who is respected in local media circles and in the UVA community – the U.S. Air Force veteran is a former member of the Charlottesville Board of Visitors of the Virginia Athletics Foundation, the fundraising arm of UVA Athletics, which is responsible for raising the millions of dollars that go to pay for scholarships for student-athletes.

You’re going to notice a bump in quality of our photos with our game coverage and feature and analytical pieces on UVA Athletics going forward.

That’s going to be because of Mike Ingalls.

We’re also hoping to coax him into doing some writing, but first things first.

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Virginia could be running into a buzzsaw, and, yes, sorry for the awful pun, but it fits, with Texas A&M, led by former Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams, bringing his rugged team to town Wednesday for the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.

Tipoff at John Paul Jones Arena is set for 7:15 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 with Dave Pasch and Cory Alexander on the call.

Williams’ Aggies (6-1 in 2023-2024) are relentless on the offensive glass, leading the nation in offensive rebounding percentage (46.2%), and they’ve played a tough schedule – with wins over Ohio State, SMU, Penn State and Iowa State, the loss coming to Florida Atlantic, last year’s surprise Final Four team, which just waxed Virginia Tech by 34.

A&M could be a good matchup lineup- and rotation-wise for Virginia just in terms of size. Williams goes with four guards around 6’11” center Wildens Leveque in his starting lineup, but Leveque only averages 11.1 minutes per game.

It seems that Williams prefers going small, with 6’8”, 245-pound senior Henry Coleman (14.2 ppg, 8.3 rebounds/g, 72.1% FG), a Richmond native and one-time UVA recruiting target, getting a lot of minutes as a small-ball five.

The backcourt is quick 6-foot junior Wade Taylor (20.0 ppg, 4.4 assists/g, 40.5% FG, 26.7% 3FG), a volume shooter (16.6 shots per game) who can get to the line (5.9 free-throw attempts per game), and another familiar name to UVA fans, 6’3” guard Tyrece Radford (13.0 ppg, 4.8 rebounds/g, 47.0% FG, 31.2% 3FG), who transferred from Virginia Tech to reunite with Williams.

The best perimeter shooter is 6’6” senior Hayden Hefner (8.9 ppg, 47.9% FG, 41.4% 3FG).

Andersson Garcia (3.6 ppg, 7.6 rebounds/g) is a Dennis Rodman-like statistical anomaly – the 6’7” senior averages more offensive rebounds (4.0 per game) that shot attempts (2.7).

Everybody on this A&M team can rebound the ball, and this Aggies group can score – its 1.204 points per possession rank fourth in the nation, according to KenPom.com data.

It doesn’t shoot the ball particularly well from three – 28.8 percent, 310th nationally.

The efficiency on offense for the Aggies seems to flow from the work on the offensive glass, which happens to be a big weakness right now for Virginia (5-1 in 2023-2024), which ranks 329th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage (64.9%), and allowed two of its three Power 5 opponents (Florida, Wisconsin) to grab 50 percent or better of their misses on the offensive end.

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Every so often, I have to dredge up the quote from former UVA big man Darion Atkins, on the eve of a 2015 NCAA Tournament matchup with Michigan State, which he opined was going to be a “d–k swinging contest.”

I’d say that I bet Tony Bennett hates it when I write these columns, but then, I doubt Tony Bennett could pick me out of a police lineup.

The quote from Atkins that I’m sure nobody on the staff likes seeing back in print after all these years comes to mind when I watch this year’s Virginia team, which ranks 329th (!) nationally in defensive-rebounding percentage.

The 2014-2015 ‘Hoos, anchored by Atkins, ranked fifth.

Laying the lumber, indeed.

That group had some dudes: in addition to Atkins (defensive rebound percentage in 2014-2015: 18.7%), there was 7-footer Mike Tobey (DR%: 21.6), future NBA players Anthony Gill (16.3%), Justin Anderson (14.4%) and Malcolm Brogdon (12.3%), and a freshman named Isaiah Wilkins (22.5%) who would go on to become the program’s glue guy for the next three years, and is now an assistant coach on Tony Bennett’s staff.

This year’s ‘Hoos have one guy who would fit in with the d–k swinging contest guys: 6’8” guard Ryan Dunn (defensive rebound percentage in 2023-2024: 21.3).

The next highest DR percentage among his teammates: 12.8.

That rate belongs to 6-foot backup point guard Dante Harris.

Seriously.

The tiny point guard.

The bigs, who should be your d–k swinging contest guys, don’t rebound as well as the guards, and this is a huge problem – and will only get worse as the schedule gets tougher, starting Wednesday with Texas A&M, which, incidentally, leads the nation in offensive-rebound percentage (46.2%).

Bennett, in the season’s first six games, went with a four-guard lineup, with Dunn at the four spot, around guys at the five – Blake Buchanan and Jake Groves – who simply haven’t been getting the job done on the boards.

Buchanan is averaging 2.2 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks fifth on the team through six games; Groves is averaging 1.7 defensive rebounds, which ranks eighth.

Buchanan is a true freshman who needs to get in the weight room so that opposing bigs can’t push him around; Groves is a stretch four (44.4% shooting from three) who is being asked to play five.

I proposed in a column last week that one solution to the rebounding issue could be sliding Dunn in the starting lineup from the four spot to the three, which pushes Isaac McKneely to the two guard spot beside Reece Beekman, then starting Groves at the four, alongside Buchanan at five.

The 3-4-5 spots would go 6’8”, 6’9” and 6’11” in that lineup.

At the least, that alignment gets the four and five guys the chance to box the bigs out so that Dunn and the guards can snag the rebounds.

My idea of the death lineup – the five that Bennett would use to close out close games – would be Beekman, McKneely, Leon Bond (3.8 rebounds/g in 15.7 minutes/g off the bench), Dunn and Buchanan.

Bond, a 6’5” guard in a linebacker’s body, seems to have some dawg in him, which this team needs in larger doses.

Bond is the closest guy this UVA team has to a Darion Atkins or Isaiah Wilkins.

Or a Jason Williford – remember him? He was the d–k swinging contest guy on the early 1990s teams that went to a Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.

The solution to the d–k swinging contest problem for this team: more height on the floor all around, and more LB3 – 20 minutes-a-game-plus LB3.

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For fans of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, it’s that time of the year to put the success and skill of the member institutions to the test against another league. For years, the ACC has gone up against the Big Ten in late November for its inter-conference showdown event, but there’s a new bull in the ring to lock horns with.

Say hello to the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, presented by Continental Tire — 28 total games over the next three days for both the men’s and women’s teams — which tips off tonight with the first set of contests on the men’s side (see full schedules below).

Tonight’s slate is highlighted by a top-10 affair between Miami and Kentucky at Rupp Arena on the men’s side, followed by a matchup fit for the gridiron as Clemson travels to Alabama in the nightcap.

On Wednesday, the North Carolina men’s team will face Tennessee in another top-20 showdown, while Duke will go up against Arkansas. The ladies’ event gets underway Wednesday with a pair of top-25 affairs, with Notre Dame traveling to Tennessee and Louisville taking on Ole Miss.

Former UVA star Dawn Staley and her top-ranked Gamecocks will battle against the Tar Heels Thursday night in a border war, and it will all conclude with a Final Four rematch between No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 7 LSU.

After beating up on the Big East for a few years in the late 80s-early 90s, the ACC dominated the first decade of the men’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which began in 1999 and ran for 24 years, claiming victory in each of the first 10 competitions. The Big Ten finally got on the board in 2009, edging the ACC, 6 games to 5.

In the 24 seasons of the now-defunct men’s Challenge, the ACC won 13 times and lost eight times, with three ties sprinkled in. The conference’s schools came out on the winning end in 152 of the 279 games played (.545 winning percentage).

The ACC women’s teams also enjoyed tremendous success in the event against the Big Ten, winning 11 of the 15 matchups that began in 2007, including five of the last six.

Now it’s time to begin a new tradition with the SEC, a conference with a proud history which currently has five ranked teams in the men’s Associated Press poll (seven, if you include future members Texas and Oklahoma) and five in the women’s poll (Texas would make it six, and Oklahoma is just outside the top 25).

Altogether, there will be eight ranked men’s teams and 11 ranked women’s teams going at it on the hardwood in the brand-new event over the next three days. Bragging rights will be on the line across the country to determine which league emerges victorious in the new system, and perhaps some new rivalries will come to fruition.

The Commonwealth’s two participating schools — Virginia and Virginia Tech — will have some fresh, interesting opponents to tangle with from the Southeastern Conference.

The UVA men’s team will host No. 14 Texas A&M on Wednesday night (7:15 p.m., ESPN2), while the women’s team welcomes Missouri to John Paul Jones Arena on Thursday at 5 (ACC Network).

As noted, the Hokies’ women’s team will go up against defending national champion LSU in Baton Rouge at 9 p.m. on Thursday (ESPN), while the Tech men’s squad travels to face Auburn at 9:15 on Wednesday (ESPN2). Here’s a deeper dive into each of those four matchups:

Men’s Hoops: Texas A&M at Virginia

After hanging on by two against West Virginia last week, Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers are off to a 5-1 start, including a 3-0 mark at JPJ so far this season. Wednesday’s game will obviously be the toughest battle by far — at least on paper, as the Hoos will be squaring off against their first ranked opponent of the season.

Virginia’s first and only loss came last Monday against Wisconsin in the opening tilt of the Fort Myers Tip-Off, a game in which the Cavaliers were outscored by 24 and outrebounded by 27, including a 20-3 deficit on the offensive glass.

Reece Beekman (11.8 ppg, 5.8 apg, 3.7 rpg, 2.8 spg) and Ryan Dunn (10.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 2.8 spg, 2.5 bpg) have been impressive on both ends of the floor through the first six games, and sophomore guard Isaac McKneely (9.8 ppg, 55 percent from 3-point territory) is back in the lineup after returning from an ankle injury that kept him out for the Texas Southern win on Nov. 16.

The Aggies (6-1) are a perfect 2-0 in true road games to start the season after picking up back-to-back victories at Ohio State and SMU earlier this month.

Former VT head coach Buzz Williams is now in his fifth year in College Station, and his Aggies’ first and only loss was against Final Four participant Florida Atlantic on Friday in the ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee, Fla., which helped move the Owls up from 19th to 13th in the polls after also defeating Virginia Tech in the tournament’s championship game.

Junior guard Wade Taylor IV leads A&M in scoring at exactly 20.0 points per contest. Senior forward Henry Coleman III, a Richmond native who was offered a scholarship by the Cavaliers coming out of high school, leads the team in rebounds with 8.3 per game to go along with a scoring average of 14.2 points

Another familiar name, Hokie transfer Tyrece Radford (13.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg), spent his first two seasons in Blacksburg before following Williams to the Lone Star State. Neither Coleman (ankle) nor Radford (breathing problems) suited up for the Aggies’ bounceback win over Iowa State on Sunday night.

Andersson Garcia, a 6-7 senior forward, doesn’t score a ton (3.6 ppg), but cleans up on the glass with 7.6 rebounds per night. A&M is averaging 43.4 rebounds per game, compared to 32.5 for the Hoos. UVA will need to step up its efforts on the boards or it could end up being another lopsided result on the scoreboard.

Men’s Hoops: Virginia Tech at Auburn

As mentioned above, the Hokies (5-2) advanced to the ESPN Events Invitational final, but were blasted by FAU, 84-50. Aside from that, the only other blemish thus far was a heartbreaking, 79-77 defeat at the hands of South Carolina in Charlotte in the second game of the season.

Despite the few bumps in the road in the early going, VT head coach Mike Young loves what he has seen out of 6-10 senior center Lynn Kidd, who leads the team in scoring (15.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.0 rpg). The deadly backcourt duo of Sean Pedulla and Hunter Cattoor has combined to average over 30 points and just under five 3-point makes per outing (4.86).

The Tigers (4-1) fell by six points against then-No. 20 Baylor in the season opener in Sioux Falls, S.D., but have ripped off four-straight convincing wins since then. Bruce Pearl’s team has been dominant in those four victories, prevailing by an average margin of 21.5 points per game.

The most impressive wins came during the Vivid Seats Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn a few weeks back, when Auburn defeated Notre Dame by 24 points before taking care of St. Bonaventure by 17 in the championship game.

Junior big man Johni Broome (15.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg) is the team’s top scorer and rebounder and will be a tough matchup down low for Kidd and the rest of the Tech frontcourt.

Freshman guard Aden Holloway (13.2 ppg) has knocked down a team-high 15 triples and is the only other Auburn player averaging double figures, so the Hokies will certainly want to keep an eye on him.

Women’s Hoops: Missouri at Virginia

The Wahoos (4-2) went 6-8 in their 14 ACC/Big Ten Challenge contests over the years, but will look to start the new annual event on a winning note under second-year head coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton.

UVA has gotten its usual steady production from senior forward Camryn Taylor, who is once again leading the team in scoring with 13.2 points per game to go with her 5.3 rebounding average.

Northwestern transfer Jillian Brown (8.8 ppg) has stepped right in and has been highly productive in a starting role, leading the Hoos with 7.7 rebounds per contest.

Ruckersville native Sam Brunelle (11.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg) missed the first few games while still recovering from an injury, but has put her stamp on her final season of college basketball, while two more local stars — freshmen Kymora Johnson (11.2 ppg, team-high 4.8 apg, 3.7 rpg) and Olivia McGhee (8.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) have been impressive to start their Cavalier careers.

In addition to Brunelle returning to full health, Arizona sophomore transfer Paris Clark and senior guard Kaydan Lawson are also back in the rotation after sitting out the first few games.

Virginia is 15-2 in non-conference games under Coach Mox, with the only losses coming earlier this month against ranked opponents Oklahoma and LSU.

Meanwhile, the Tigers (5-2) are coming off of a 67-64 loss to Kent State in the Daytona Beach Classic over the weekend, and will bring some size to Thursday evening’s matchup.

Forward Hayley Frank, a 6-1 senior, leads Missouri in both scoring (17.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg), and has also blocked a team-high 6 shot attempts. In addition, Mizzou has three talented guards who can fill it up — 6-1 sophomore Ashton Judd (16.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg), 6-2 freshman Grace Slaughter (13.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and 5-6 senior Mama Dembele (10.9 ppg, 6.9 apg). The Tigers were picked to finish 11th in the SEC’s preseason poll.

Women’s Hoops: Virginia Tech at LSU

In a top-10 rematch of last season’s national semifinal, the Hokies (5-1) will look to two-time reigning ACC Player of the Year Liz Kitley for another superstar performance in this marquee primetime clash.

Through her first six games, the 6-6 senior center is averaging a double-double with 24.3 points and 11.5 rebounds to go along with a team-high 2.8 blocks per contest. Sharpshooting senior guard Georgia Amoore (17.0 ppg, team-best 8.3 apg) is also off to another hot start, knocking down 17 triples on the young season.

This won’t be the first big-time test for the Hokies, however, who went toe to toe with then-No. 3 Iowa on Nov. 9 in Charlotte, but came up short, 80-76, as Caitlin Clark put up 44 points. Kenny Brooks’ squad went 9-6 in their 15 career ACC/Big Ten Challenge games.

The Tigers (7-1) were the top-ranked team in the preseason SEC voting and the AP poll, but were upset by Colorado in the season opener, 92-78. Kim Mulkey’s team has played its last four games without one of their superstars in conference preseason Player of the Year Angel Reese, who averages a double-double of her own (17.0 ppg, 10.3 rpg).

Fortunately for Mulkey, she has five other players who are averaging double figures in scoring, led by DePaul junior transfer guard Aneesah Morrow (18.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg). Morrow poured in 37 to help the Tigers hold off the Cavaliers in the Cayman Islands.

Freshman guard Mikaylah Williams (17.5 ppg), Louisville transfer guard Hailey Van Lith (12.9 ppg, 5.0 apg) and sophomore and Flau’jae Johnson (11.4 ppg) have also been reliable contributors. It should be a fun, exciting ballgame between two very talented teams in front of a nationally televised audience to conclude this year’s inaugural events.

2023 ACC/SEC Challenge

Men’s Schedule

Tuesday’s Games

• 21 Mississippi State at Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. (ACCN)
• Notre Dame at South Carolina, 7 p.m. (SECN)
• LSU at Syracuse, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
• 8 Miami at 12 Kentucky, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
• Missouri at Pitt, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
• NC State at Ole Miss, 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Clemson at 23 Alabama, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Wednesday’s Games

• 14 Texas A&M at Virginia, 7:15 p.m. (ESPN2)
• 10 Tennessee at 17 North Carolina, 7:15 p.m. (ESPN)
• Florida at Wake Forest, 7:15 p.m. (ESPNU)
• 7 Duke at Arkansas, 9:15 p.m. (ESPN)
• Boston College at Vanderbilt, 9:15 p.m. (SECN)
• Georgia at Florida State, 9:15 p.m. (ACCN)
• Virginia Tech at Auburn, 9:15 p.m. (ESPN2)

Not participating: Louisville

Women’s Schedule

Wednesday’s Games

• 18 Notre Dame at 20 Tennessee, 5 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Florida at Georgia Tech, 5 p.m. (ACCN)
• Vanderbilt at 5 NC State, 7:15 p.m. (ACCN)
• Miami at 21 Mississippi State, 7:15 p.m. (SECN)
• 22 Louisville at 19 Ole Miss, 9:15 p.m. (ESPNU)

Thursday’s Games

• Missouri at Virginia, 5 p.m. (ACCN)
• Duke at Georgia, 5 p.m. (SECN)
• 1 South Carolina at 24 North Carolina, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
• Arkansas at 15 Florida State, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Boston College at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (SECN)
• Alabama at Syracuse, 7 p.m. (ACCN)
• 9 Virginia Tech at 7 LSU, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
• Clemson at Auburn, 9 p.m. (SECN)
• Texas A&M at Wake Forest, 9 p.m. (ACCN)

Not participating: Pitt

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Virginia Football is now officially in the silly season, with Saturday’s 55-17 loss to Virginia Tech putting the 2023 season to a wrap with a 3-9 finish.

Before the ugly loss to the rival, Virginia had gone 3-3 over a six-game stretch that included wins over North Carolina (which finished 8-4) and Duke (which finished 7-5), and a narrow loss at Louisville (which finished 10-2, and will play Florida State in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday).

There are obvious holes that need to be filled in the offseason – looking at you, O line, which gave up six sacks and a total of 20 pressures to the Hokies front on Saturday.

But there’s also plenty to build around – Kam Robinson, the precocious outside linebacker being the one you’d want to clone, if you could.

This article has a super short shelf life.

I’m writing at about 9:30 p.m. ET Monday night. There are kids all over the country filling out their paperwork as I write.

How many of them are in dorms and apartments in the vicinity of Charlottesville?

Top retention target: Kam Robinson

Robinson, a 6’2”, 227-pound four-star recruit from the Class of 2023, was the best player on the 2023 UVA defense as a true freshman, getting 474 snaps at outside linebacker, with 71 tackles, 10 QB pressures, one sack, and a 58.6 NFL passer rating against on his 238 pass-coverage snaps.

Dude is a swiss-army knife – able to rush the passer, stop the run, and be an asset in coverage.

His NIL value is through the roof – as a kid with those numbers on the field, and then you factor in that he was able to earn admission into UVA.

Robinson can transfer anywhere, and I’d imagine there’d be any number of SEC and Big Ten schools lining up if he were to hit the portal.

Top retention target 1-A: Jonas Sanker

Sanker, a 6’1”, 210-pound safety, led Virginia with 107 tackles and 11 pass breakups, and his 76.8 Pro Football Focus season grade was the tops on the UVA defensive unit in 2023.

He was on the field for a unit-high 834 snaps – a reminder of the adage about the greatest ability being availability.

There’s a lot to like about Sanker, who has two years of eligibility left.

He would have offers from all over if he were to hit the portal.

Top retention target 1-B: Malachi Fields

Fields is big (6’4”, 220), has good speed for a big receiver, and decent hands (five drops on 100 targets in 2023).

And he’s productive: 58 catches on those 100 targets, 811 yards, five TDs.

Fields has an NFL body, and could fetch decent NIL money based on his vitals and his counting numbers from 2023.

With grad transfer Malik Washington (110 catches, 1,426 yards, nine TDs) having exhausted his eligibility, Fields becomes the WR1 for whoever is the offensive coordinator next year.

He has to be the top priority retention-wise on the offensive side of the ball.

Would be surprised if he were to leave: Anthony Colandrea

Colandrea, technically the backup, though he started six games, and played all but one series of a seventh, would get offers if he were to hit the portal.

The true freshman passed for 1.958 yards and 13 TDs, with a 139.6 passer rating, and gained 225 yards on the ground – basically running for his life behind a makeshift O line that got better as the season played out, but still wasn’t ACC-quality.

His numbers and game tape would get him offers if he were to hit the portal, but his value is diminished by the same numbers that landed him at UVA in the first place – those numbers being 5’11”, 180.

If all he wants is a change of scenery, Colandrea could hit the portal and get offers from a run of mid-tier Power 4s and top-tier Group of 5s.

I don’t sense Colandrea, not yet, being the kind of guy who would command even a decent amount of money via NIL.

His best bet is almost certainly staying at UVA and developing, and continuing his progress toward a UVA degree while making himself into the best college QB he can be.

Names to watch:

• Freshman cornerback Dre Walker: 63.5 PFF grade, 269 snaps, 54.3 NFL passer rating against, three years of eligibility remaining
• Sophomore left tackle McKale Boley: 63.1 PFF grade, 16 QB pressures/2 sacks on 496 pass-block dropbacks
• Senior outside linebacker Chico Bennett Jr.: 59.3 PFF grade, 556 snaps, 34 tackles, 28 QB pressures, one year of eligibility remaining
• Freshman right tackle Blake Steen: 55.9 PFF grade, 16 pressures/5 sacks on 262 pass dropbacks, three years of eligibility remaining

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Florida State was clearly the best team in the ACC from start to finish. The Seminoles began the season as the No. 1 in the power rankings and never flinched.

The Seminoles closed out a perfect 12-0 regular season with a 24-15 win in the swamp over rival Florida Saturday evening.

The uncertainty looming in Tallahassee is can the unbeaten Seminoles climb back into the CFP Top 4 without star quarterback Jordan Travis?

While FSU held the unanimous No. 1 spot in our power rankings the entire season, No. 2 was a different story.

Miami, UNC, Duke, Louisville, and NC State each occupied the No. 2 position during the regular season. The Cardinals and Tar Heels each had four weeks as second-best, but NC State, closing with five straight wins, finishes as No. 2, its only time this season that high.

Regardless of the ratings, it’s FSU vs. Louisville in the ACC Championship Game Saturday evening in Charlotte. That game lost some of its luster when Kentucky, on the road, upset Louisville, 38-31.

While the top of the ACC, behind FSU, was a carousel of teams, the bottom feeders did likewise.

Pitt and Syracuse shared the No. 14 spot for several weeks, Boston College, Virginia and Virginia Tech also spent time in the basement as well.

In the end, the ACC has 11 bowl-eligible teams, with Syracuse and Virginia Tech meeting the six-win threshold Saturday.

The reality of the bowl season became known with Syracuse going bowling after the conclusion of a season so disappointing it got head coach Dino Babers fired.

Such is college football 2023.

Here’s the final 2023 ACC Power Rankings:

1. FSU (12-0, 8-0 ACC) The best the ACC had in 2023. The question, however: is it good enough for a CFP bid?
2. NC State (9-3, 6-2 ACC) The Wolfpack closes with five straight wins as QB Brennan Armstrong resurrects his career. State coach Dave Dorean may be the best under-the-radar coach in the country.
3. Louisville (10-2, 7-1 ACC) Kentucky ended any hopes Louisville had of reaching the CFP with a stunning upset in Louisville.  The Wildcat win also took the glimmer of the ACC title game as well.
4. Clemson (8-4, 4-4 ACC) The Tigers finished the season strong, winning their last four, including a 16-7 win over state-rival South Carolina on Saturday.
5. North Carolina (8-4, 4-4 ACC) The Tar Heels, ranked in the Top 10 nationally earlier this year, lost four of their last five conference games, finishing .500 in the ACC.
6. Duke (7-5, 4-4 ACC) Blue Devil head coach Mike Elko is set to be hired as the new coach at Texas A&M. Enough said.
7. Miami (7-5, 3-5 ACC) The Hurricanes snapped a three-game losing streak to close out the regular season with a road win at BC. The much-anticipated FSU-Miami championship game fizzled away weeks ago. Same old Miami: great recruiting doesn’t mean much.
8. Georgia Tech (6-6, 5-3 ACC) GT gave rival Georgia a far more competitive game than most of the Bulldogs’ Southeastern Conference peers did. Disclaimer: Georgia was playing without four key offensive players.
9. Virginia Tech (6-6, 5-3 ACC) Tech closed out an up-and-down season with a dominant win over Virginia. The Hokies had six wins, but upon a deeper dive all six victories were against teams with non-winning records.
10. Boston College (6-6, 3-5 ACC) BC ended the season being trounced at home by a reeling Miami. The Eagles, nonetheless, are going bowling.
11. Syracuse (6-6, 2-6 ACC) The Orange, having fired head coach Dino Babers earlier in the week, became bowl-eligible with a win over woeful Wake Forest. No coach, no problem.
12. Virginia (3-9, 2-6 ACC) Having witnessed firsthand UVA’s dreadful 55-17 bludgeoning to Virginia Tech, I cannot imagine not dropping the Cavaliers lower than No. 12. The problem is there are two more teams that are worse.
13. Wake Forest (4-8, 1-7 ACC) Just the fourth losing season for Wake coach Dave Clawson in his 10 years in Winston-Salem.
14. Pitt (3-9, 2-6 ACC)Pitt fired its offensive coordinator Sunday after another pitiful offensive performance Saturday, losing to Duke. Pitt had just 43 yards rushing.

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Virginia running back Mike Hollins is the 2023 Brian Piccolo Award winner, maybe the easiest choice in years, considering what Hollins had to endure to get back on the field in 2023.

The grad student was among five UVA students who were shot by a classmate on Nov. 13, 2022. The shooting killed three of Hollins’ teammates – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – and nearly killed Hollins, who suffered life-threatening injuries after leading other students off the bus to safety, then returning to try to help those who had been shot.

Hollins was admitted to the hospital in critical condition after suffering two gunshot wounds, the bullets narrowly missing spine, but creating numerous injuries to internal organs.

Doctors performed two surgeries over the next few days to address those injuries, and Hollins spent a week ICU.

He returned to limited physical activity in mid-January, with the goals of increasing his fitness and regaining core stability.

Hollins was able to participate in 2023 spring football on a limited basis – scoring a TD in the spring game – and returned to unrestricted activity during summer conditioning.

As part of a three-man rotation at running back this year, Hollins had 80 carries for 274 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns on the ground, and also had 10 receptions for 34 yards and one touchdown catch.

“Mike Hollins is one of those transformational type of individuals that we’ll look back years from now and say, wow, we were around somebody that is truly special. I don’t think any of us can really appreciate, or put into context mentally, what he had to do to be able to play football again this season,” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said. “He is an amazing young man. All season he played hard, he played focused, and he was a great leader for our football team. It was a hard and difficult season and yet, every day, Mike was a motivational force for all of us. Being around Mike has made me a better man and coach.”

The Brian Piccolo Award has been given annually since 1970 in memory of the late Brian Piccolo to the “most courageous” football player in the ACC. As a standout running back at Wake Forest, Piccolo was the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1965 and played for the Chicago Bears before his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with cancer.

His courageous fight against the disease was an inspiration to the Bears and the entire football community.

If you dare, watch the movie “Brian’s Song” – the 1971 original made-for-TV movie – and try not to cry your eyes out.

You will fail.

“When I received the news that I was named the Piccolo Award winner, I had to talk to the team that day at practice. I told them this was not a ‘me’ award, this was a ‘we’ award. And I really mean that. This year, together, we have gone through something we could have never imagined,” said Hollins. “I am proud to have been a part of a team that came to work, stayed motivated, and never lost focus. It is nice for the team to receive the recognition for the courage it displayed this year.”

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The 2024 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame class includes some heavy hitters from UVA Athletics – former AD Craig Littlepage, women’s hoops legend Monica Wright Rogers and football great Chris Long.

The nine-member class – which includes former United States Women’s National Team soccer coach Jill Ellis, Rick Jeffrey, the president of Special Olympics Virginia, Olympic track and field standout LaShawn Merritt, Randolph Macon men’s basketball star Hal Nunnally, longtime Virginia Tech sports information director Dave Smith and sportswriter Paul Woody – will be celebrated as part of 2024 Induction Weekend, April 19-20 in Henrico County.

The 2024 Induction events will include a Sponsor Welcome Reception on Friday, April 19, Breakfast with Champions the morning of Saturday, April 20, and the Hall of Fame Reception & Induction Ceremony later that evening.

Event and ticket information can be found at the Hall of Fame’s website www.vasportshof.com.

Littlepage spent a total of 45 years on Grounds at Virginia, first as an assistant coach on the men’s basketball team (1976-1982 and 1988-1990), and then in athletics administration from 1990-2017, the last 16 serving as director of athletics.

During his time as AD, the Cavaliers were one of the most successful programs in the nation, winning 76 ACC championships and 13 national championships. The 76 conference championships were the most by an ACC member school during that time.

In addition to his role as AD, Littlepage chaired the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Committee (2005-2006) and was a member of the USA Basketball Board of Directors (2005-2008).

In 2021, Littlepage was selected for induction into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Hall of Fame.

Wright Rogers, from Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, was named the 2006 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year for women’s basketball and was selected as a WBCA All-American. During her four years at Virginia, Wright Rogers set program career records for total points (2,540), scoring average (19.1 ppg), field goals made (962), field goal attempts (2,207) and 25-point games (28), and ranks fourth on the all-time list with 372 steals.

A three-time All-American, Wright Rogers was named the 2010 ACC Player of the Year, ACC Defensive Player of the Year and WBCA National Defensive Player of the Year. Following her graduation, she played seven seasons in the WNBA, winning two WNBA Championships, and was named to the 2010 All-Rookie Team.

Long, a Charlottesville native, was a two-time All-ACC selection, the 2007 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Dudley Award winner and unanimous first-team All-American for UVA.

The No. 2 overall pick in the 2008 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams, Long played 11 seasons in the NFL with St. Louis, New England and Philadelphia.

He registered 332 tackles, 70 sacks, and 15 forced fumbles during his professional career, while also being a part of two Super Bowl winning teams in New England (LI) and Philadelphia (LII).

His impact has extended well beyond the gridiron through his Chris Long Foundation. For his charitable efforts, Long has been the recipient of the NFL Players Associations Alan Page Community Award (2018), and the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award (2018).

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