‘Still grieving’: Virginia football ready to take the field, honor 3 teammates killed last fall

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The initial shock of the Nov. 13 attack at the University of Virginia has subsided, football coach Tony Elliott said. But the grief has not.

Nearly 10 months after Cavaliers players first learned that four of their teammates had been shot after returning to campus from a field trip − and only one had survived − Saturday's game against No. 10 Tennessee at Nissan Stadium in Nashville will represent the start of a new season and a new chapter in the program's healing process. It is a step toward normalcy − even though that word, "normal," carries a different meaning for them now.

"Our program's still grieving. I think we’ll continue to grieve for a long time," Elliott told USA TODAY Sports in an interview this summer. "I think what we're able to do a better job of now is function, while we grieve."

In purely football terms, Elliott and his players know the upcoming season will be an opportunity for the program to continue its rebuild − to improve off last year's 3-7 record, and maybe even reach its first bowl game since 2019.

Really, though, it will not be defined by wins, losses or bowl appearances. This season is about showing resilience in the face of tragedy, and using football to continue to honor the memories of the teammates they lost: Wide receivers Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., and linebacker D'Sean Perry.

"We need football right now, I feel," fifth-year running back Mike Hollins, who sustained a gunshot wound in the attack but will return to play this season, said in a news conference earlier this summer. "It does something to the atmosphere, just the whole camaraderie of the university or campus grounds. It’ll uplift the three we lost. Just by seeing them up on the big screen or just being in a football game, people will be remembering them."

CRYSTAL BALL: Season predictions for playoff, Heisman and more

BREAKING THROUGH: Six teams that could make playoff for the first time

Elliott, 43, said there is a "delicate balance" to be struck in 2023, which will feature several tributes − including Saturday, and at the team's home opener Sept. 9, which will be "UVA Strong Day." He hopes his players can draw strength and inspiration from the memories of Chandler, Davis and Perry without dwelling too long on them, and becoming paralyzed by sadness. Since the early days of spring ball, he's repeatedly drawn a distinction between moving on and moving forward.

"We can’t move on," Elliott said. "It’s going to be part of our DNA for the rest of our lives. It will always be with us."

Virginia last took the field for a regular-season game on Nov. 12, when it suffered a 37-7 loss to Pittsburgh. Hollins was the team's leading rusher that day. Perry, one of his close friends, recorded two tackles.

One night later, Hollins and Perry were among a group of roughly two dozen students who bussed to Washington D.C. to see a play as part of a class field trip. When they returned to campus, another student on the trip − later identified as Christopher Darnell Jones, Jr. − produced a weapon and started shooting on the bus. A witness later told police that Jones, who was listed on the football team's roster in 2018 but did not appear in a game, seemed to be targeting specific individuals as he fired.

Hollins was one of two students who were shot but survived the attack; The other was not on the team.

Jones, now 23, was found the following morning and charged with second-degree murder, among a string of other charges. He was denied bond and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. A trial date has not been set.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Virginia players attended the memorial services of their teammates while the university canceled the final two games of the season. Hollins was discharged from the hospital. The Cavaliers grieved together for a few weeks, then separately as they scattered for the holidays. Assistant coaches soon went back on the road to recruit.

It wasn't until they returned to campus, quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb said, that the emotions returned.

"It kind of hits you when you get back," he said. "Because everything happened here."

The NCAA announced in December that it would grant an extra year of eligibility to any Virginia football player who needed one, following the truncated season. Some chose to leave, in search of a fresh start, but the overwhelming majority returned; Nearly 71% of players on the 2022 football roster are still here.

"I certainly would say the tragedy of what happened was definitely a big deciding factor (in returning)," defensive end Chico Bennett, now a graduate student, said at the conference's media day earlier this summer. "It would have been easy to just leave, but for me it was just − it was a no-brainer to come back, man."

When the Cavaliers returned to the practice field for spring ball, Lamb said the incoming players "had a lot of respect for what our team went through" and fit in seamlessly with the returners. Clint Sintim, Virginia's linebackers coach, sensed that the team has grown closer. And Elliott said he's noticed players spending more time with one another outside of position groups and their offensive/defensive units.

"When they have their tough days," Elliott said, "they put their arms around each other and they find a way to get through."

Elliott is grateful that, in addition to campus-wide mental health resources, the Virginia athletic department has three clinical psychologists on staff, including two that work with the football team "pretty much on a daily basis." He said he's long encouraged players to build relationships with those psychologists, before but especially after the Nov. 13 incident.

It wasn't just the players on the team who were impacted, of course. Assistant coaches like Sintim, who was Perry's position coach, have also grieved in their ways, on their timelines.

"People say this all the time, when you lose loved ones, but you celebrate their life. You celebrate the moments that you’ve shared with them," he said. "I think it’s OK to sometimes be somber as you think about those guys. Because it is somber. But just recognizing what they did and the contribution can bring you joy as well, too."

Lamb, the quarterbacks coach, said just watching the team rally together has helped in his grieving process.

"(To) see Mike Hollins running around out there every day," he said, "it was all I needed."

While the 2023 season will hold a special meaning for the entire program, that rings especially true for Hollins. As a survivor of the shooting, he has morphed into not just a leader but also something of an inspirational figure for his teammates.

Hollins said the emotions of playing in the spring game "hit me like a sack of rocks," so he isn't sure what sorts of feelings will emerge as he stands on the sidelines at Nissan Stadium on Saturday. "I can only imagine," he said. His outlook on this season, and football more broadly, has completely changed in the wake of his teammates' deaths.

"I don’t see a way that this season can be a failure − no matter the record, no matter the ending, no matter anything," Hollins said. "As long as we go out there and play … we’re doing their legacy justice, because we’re here."

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @Tom_Schad.