CHARLOTTESVILLE — One by one, Virginia’s football players made their way to the north end zone of Scott Stadium to pay their respects to their fallen teammates. Some crossed their chests. Others knelt to pray.
Painted orange and blue with a UVA Strong logo and the names and numbers of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr and D’Sean Perry, the end zone was an on-field memorial to the players who were killed in a Nov. 13 shooting on campus.
Saturday’s Blue-White Spring Game was the first contest played here since the shooting. Around 40 minutes before the opening kickoff, running back Mike Hollins, who was wounded in the shooting but returned for spring ball after a remarkable recovery, walked toward the memorial with a ball tucked in his right arm. He surveyed the end-zone imagery, took pictures with teammates and exchanged hugs with well-wishers.
In the background, the song “Guardian Angel” played. It was written in memory of Perry by his former high school teammate Terrell Torrance. Hollins bobbed up and down as the lyrics hung in the air, “I can be your knight to guide you to the light with my guardian angel.”
Hollins led the Blue team to a 34-19 win, carrying the ball 11 times for 40 yards and a touchdown. He took a handoff 7 yards on the game’s first play, earning a standing ovation from the fans, and later scored in the second quarter on a 1-yard run into the end-zone memorial.
His teammates mobbed him, and then he took the ball and placed in on top of Perry’s name. He patted it once more for good measure.
“We were through the roof. We were super-excited,” said second-year linebacker Trey McDonald, who had a team-high 10 tackles for the Blue team. “It’s just a testimony to how much he’s worked this spring. Every day he has brought a smile and a hard-working attitude to the day, and that is all we could ask of him. To see him score was amazing.”
Hollins spoke to reporters earlier in the spring, saying, “I could have left, I could have transferred, but I think of that as sweeping things under the rug as best as I could. The best place for me to move forward, not move on but move forward, is in Charlottesville with the people who shared that experience with me.”
Spring practice was the unofficial kickoff of year two for coach Tony Elliott. Many are eager to see the progress of the Cavaliers’ offense after it struggled mightily in 2022, finishing last in the ACC in points per game (17) while leading the conference in turnovers per game (2.2).
Saturday’s game was the first opportunity for fans to see new quarterbacks Tony Muskett, a transfer from Monmouth, and freshman Anthony Colandrea. UVA is tasked with replacing record-breaking quarterback Brennan Armstrong, who transferred to North Carolina State.
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There were a few fireworks in the spring game. Muskett’s 63-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver JR Wilson to give the White squad a 7-3 lead in the first quarter was by far the biggest. Colandrea just missed a 44-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. He found wide receiver Eli Wood in stride, but the ball was dropped in the end zone.
Muskett completed 11 of 14 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown. Colandrea was 18 for 29 for 218 yards, including a 5-yard scoring throw to freshman wideout Jaden Gibson.
Second-year running back Jack Griese, the grandson of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, rushed for 90 yards on 12 carries, with touchdowns of 8 and 35 yards.
Other highlights included a 61-yard kickoff return by receiver Malik Washington, a transfer from Northwestern, and a 99-yard interception-return touchdown by fourth-year defensive lineman Jack Hardy.
The Cavaliers were excited to get back to playing football on their home field after going through a very difficult five-month stretch following the shooting. It was a chance to put the emotions aside for a few hours and get back to playing the game they love.
That was especially true for Hollins, who made his comeback a memorable one.
“Mike is still carrying a lot,” Elliott said. “He’s carrying a lot, and he wants to do everything that he can to do things the right way, and there’s going to be days where all of us are going to be emotional. I get emotional if I go a certain route on campus, or on Grounds at times I tear up a little bit. But also too I know the byproduct of everything that we went through is that relationships are going to be better.”