The Shadow
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (VR) — In the expanded ACC, longstanding football rivalries can lie dormant for several years. Virginia, for example, hasn’t played Georgia Tech or Miami since 2023 and won’t face either of those teams again until next year.
But then there’s UVA’s series with Duke. The longtime ACC members are about meet for the third time in 11 months.
At 7 p.m. Friday, UVA (4-3 overall, 2-2 ACC) hosts Duke (4-2, 1-2) at Scott Stadium. They played each other twice last fall. In the regular season, Virginia rolled to a 34-17 win in Durham, N.C. Duke avenged that loss in the ACC championship game, defeating UVA 27-20 in overtime in Charlotte, N.C.
This is an era of player movement, and both rosters have undergone significant turnover since the end of last season.
The Blue Devils have “a lot of new faces, new numbers, new guys to get adjusted to, but structurally they’re very similar [to last season],” Virginia head coach Tony Elliott said Tuesday. “They still do what they do, but personnel-wise, they’re very different, just like we’re different as well.”
Even so, UVA’s two-deep on defense is peppered with players who were in the program last season, including end Fisher Camac, tackle Anthony Britton, linebackers Kam Robinson, Maddox Marcellus and Landon Danley, spurs Donavon Platt and Corey Costner, and safeties Ethan Minter and Montino Williams.
The quarterback on last year’s ACC championship team, Darian Mensah, is now a Miami Hurricane, but tailback Nate Sheppard is back for the Blue Devils, and he leads all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (179.8) this season.
Sheppard ranks third in rushing yards per game (136.7), and he’s as versatile as he is talented. In Duke’s most recent game, a loss to North Carolina, Sheppard caught 11 passes.
“Last year I was like, ‘Man, this kid can’t be a freshman,’ ” Elliott said, “because he played like an upperclassman. And so where you’ve seen him improve is he’s really, really making an impact in the passing game.”
Sheppard has 28 receptions for 259 yards and four touchdowns this season. Duke’s starting quarterback, Walker Eget, is “not forcing bad balls down the field,” Elliott said.
“He’s going to find his checkdown. And if you’ve got a checkdown like [Shepphard], if you throw it to him at four yards and he can take it 40, then that’s how I’m going to make my living as a quarterback, too. I’m just going to dump it down and let him do the work.”
As a runner, Sheppard is “really understanding the schemes,” Elliott said. “So you’re not seeing him make many bad decisions. He’s not trying to bounce it when he’s not supposed to. He’s banging it up in there when he needs to. And then when he sees green grass on the counter, then he can bounce it on the counter. … So [he’s] definitely by far the best back that we’ve seen all year and probably the best one in the league.”
WORK IN PROGRESS: In each of UVA’s past three games, an opposing player has rushed for more than 100 yards, and now comes Sheppard.
“We’ve got to tackle and just get guys on the ground,” Elliott said, “and not necessarily try to go for the big hit. Clean up our angles and really just understand the importance of getting the ball carrier on the ground.”
UVA defenders have to “understand that in this day and age, you’ve got to go down a level,” Elliott said, “and what we mean by going down a level is if you try to tackle guys high, they’re too big, they’re too strong, their balance is too good. You’ve got to get down on the legs and then you got to wrap. The biggest thing is really just the wrap technique and squeezing, and then everybody’s got to be pursuing.
“You’re talking about 200-pound, 215-pound guys that squat a ton that are very, very strong, that if you try to tackle them with one person and you’re not wrapping, you’re not going to get them to the ground.”
Only one Cavalier has rushed for 100 yards in a game this season—quarterback Beau Pribula. Of Virginia’s tailbacks, only Jekail Middlebrook (56.6) is averaging more than 34 yards per game rushing.
Elliott said the Hoos’ tailbacks are “running through tackles, but we’ve got to break some tackles. I think there’s been some plays where we’ve run through the tackle and [fallen] forward, but I want to see us break the tackle and not go down and stay up. And then that’ll create some of the bigger, more explosive plays that we’ve seen in the past.
“I’m not throwing the backs under the bus, because they’re running hard, they’re running physical … [But if the defense gives] you a shot to break one for a big one, let’s go break it. It doesn’t have to go all the way to the house, but let’s get some of those chunk plays, because I think there’s some that are there that we can take advantage of.”
MEDICAL REPORT: Of the Cavaliers who didn’t play Saturday against SMU in Dallas, wide receiver Rico Flores Jr. has a long-term knee injury, Elliott said Tuesday, but safety Brandyn Hillman is “day to day.”
Center Drake Metcalf left the SMU game with an injury. If Metcalf isn’t available against Duke, Makilan Thomas will move to center, with Ben York likely to take over for Thomas at right guard.
Thomas, who replaced Metcalf at center in the SMU game, is “super, super talented,” offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said Tuesday. “If he has to go play center again, we’re going to go win a game with him at center. We believe in him in that regard.”
On the injury report UVA released Tuesday night, among the players listed as out for the Duke game are Flores and defensive backs Corey Costner and Ethan Minter. Hillman and wideout Kameron Courtney are listed as questionable.
DISRUPTIVE FORCE: In UVA’s 23-13 loss to then-No. 24 SMU on Saturday, defensive end Matthew Fobbs-White had five quarterback hurries and two tackles for loss, one of them a sack. He tied his career high with six tackles overall.
Fobbs-White, a transfer from Baylor, leads Virginia in tackles for loss (seven), sacks (four) and quarterback hurries (eight) this season.
“Fobbs is fun to watch,” Rudzinki said, “because he is violent. He gets off blocks. He can go hunt the quarterback. He’s embracing the challenge of making sure that he’s just a total person and total young man. He’s just done an unbelievable job of making sure that on Saturday he plays his best football, and he’s done a really nice job as far as creating pressure.”
STIFF CHALLENGE: Virginia’s defense will be battling a Duke offense that has allowed only two sacks this season.
The Blue Devils’ secret?
“What they do is they run the ball really well, and so they don’t get into must-pass situations,” Rudzinski said. “And that’s where it starts for them. But, again, it’s also a testament to their offensive line, because they have thrown the ball a bunch. I think they threw it over 30 times last game. But the quarterback’s been really efficient as far as getting [the ball out quickly].”
LOW PROFILE: Tight end Dakota Twitty, who was expected to be a big part of Virginia’s passing game this season, has only seven receptions, for 62 yards.
“The ball just hasn’t found him,” Kitchings said.
The Hoos aren’t a team that’s “going to throw it 40 times a game,” Kitchings said, “but in the course of the game, there are plays for him.”
Against SMU, Kitchings said, UVA called a couple of plays for Twitty, but Pribula ended up checking down to tailback Xay Davis.
“So it’s not an intent not to get him the ball,” Kitchings said. “It’s just sometimes the checkdown has been there or he’s the second in the progression … and the ball’s just not gotten there.”
Another tight end, John Rogers, has nine receptions for 75 yards and one TD.
