The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - UVA Spring Football Game - What Did You Learn?; Spring, 2025 v Spring, 2026 - What Team Is Better?

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: UVA Spring Football Game – What Did You Learn? Spring, 2025 v Spring, 2026 – What Team Is Better? ACC Football: Teams To Watch, Storylines To Follow Ryan Odom Has “Core Four” Players Returning De Ridder, Grunloh, Mallor & Lewis Can Attract Talent UVA Hoops Transfer Portal – What Are You Following? The Impact Of Kymora Johnson Returning To UVA Springs Sports Roundup: Baseball, Lax, Golf, Tennis Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air Jerry Ratcliffe & Jerry Miller were live on The Jerry & Jerry Show! The Jerry & Jerry Show airs live Tuesday from 10:15 am – 11:15 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The Jerry & Jerry Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Welcome to the Jerry and Jerry show, guys. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us. It is a Tuesday morning in downtown Charlestville, Virginia, and it's a pleasure to connect with you guys on what is the most watched and listened to Oahu talk show across the board. The numbers don't back it up, guys. They absolutely live it up. They reinforce it. And it's our pleasure to continue to build this Jerry and Jerry brand.

for you, the viewer and listener, as we talk spring football, as we talk basketball, as we talk transfer portal, as we talk Camara Johnson, as we talk baseball, across, tennis, golf. It's truly an abundance of athletic riches here in Charlottesville, Virginia.

You are living and breathing. One of the best athletic departments, not just in the Commonwealth, not just in the Atlantic Coast Conference guys, but the country, 2025, 2025, 26 athletic season. if you're a UVA sports fan, is shaping up to be one of the best

in UVA sports history, and there is one man who is covering it better than anyone else, ladies and gentlemen, and that's Jerry Rackcliffe, the Virginia Sports Hall of Favor, who has 50-plus years on the beat. We encourage you, the viewer, and listener, to offer your perspective to shape the show,

to influence the show, and to offer your questions and comments wherever you're watching the program upon. For example, on YouTube, Kenneth Knuckles is watching the program right now, and he says, Kenneth says it's a sunny, chilly day in Virginia Beach. We've got commenters right now watching outside of Athens, Georgia, chilly down here as well on the feed. Like and chair of the program, we're going to get rock and rolling right now, Judea Wickcower, with the studio camera, then a two shot of our star, a household name, the namesake of Jerry Rackleft.com.

His platform is just $8 a month at jerry rackliff.com, and it gives you the best exclusive coverage of anything and everything UVA sports related. My friend, this is a busy time of year for you. Wow, yeah, we've run the gamut of sports in the past week or two. I've written about football, men's basketball, women's basketball, a little bit of baseball. Golf. I went over and covered the final round of the Chittingua tournament. Yep. As they get ready for postseason.

And, you know, it just keeps on coming. There's a little bit of everything going on. You know what, my, you're crushing it at jerry rackliff.com. You are churning award-winning content. Two to three stories a day on jerryrackliff.com. The Greg Waters piece on baseball was fantastic. Yeah, if you love UVA baseball, you really need to check out Greg Waters' content. he puts up great analysis of this baseball program.

He knows baseball like the back of his hand, and he's been covering UVA baseball for quite some time and for other agencies or whatever, but publications. But now he's with us and check him out. And like Jerry said, it's only a cup of coffee for a subscription, really. Greg Waters-N-Rourdes-N-Rexam.

knows baseball like Cliff Daisy on the eastern shore knows Virginia peanuts. That's right. And I don't know about you, Hoody, but I was extremely grateful. We had a surprise visit from Cliff Daisy to our studio. We were in the middle of our 1230 show, so I didn't have a chance to talk to him. Judah sprinted outside the door while directing and producing the show to grab this tin of peanuts right here. And Cliff, Judah and I are, I'd say about 40% through this, because once you pop, you can't

stop a la Pringles here with Virginia Peanuts. Word on the street is you may got a you may got a nice salty gift as well, Hootie. Yes, actually Cliff was in town visiting someone last Friday and Scott German and I went out and had lunch with him at the villa and had a great talk. Ray lives on the eastern shore and a big Wahoo fan and he has a boat. He calls the named the Cavalier. And we had just a great discussion about stuff. And I'm going to go down. I'm going to return to visit.

I'm going to go down and visit him sometime this spring or summer. I love it. Never spent much time on the eastern shore. So I'd like to get it up close and personal look at it. I like it. I like it a lot. And I'll tell you what, I love what you're doing as Renee Pettiford is watching the program.

She asks us, are you ready for Saturday night with Tony and Wally? She's watching the show right now at the Jiffy Lube, and she absolutely adores your quarter zip and my quarter zip. Renee Pettiford, you're making our morning better right now at the Jiffy Lube somewhere in North Carolina. I'm sure the rebuk, excuse me, Roeback people, I appreciate her comments as well. Absolutely.

We're both wearing Roebuck today. That's absolutely true. Viewers and listeners, put your comments on the feet. Your content's been so prolific and so award-winning this week. And last week, one piece of content in particular, resonated with me. And you know this because we've known each other for nearly 25 years. I'm a football and basketball kind of guy. But your story on Scooter Boy and the men's golf team and a standout that goes from rags to riches legitimately riding. And I'm going to offer

first-hand perspective here. Your story chronicled this, featured this spotlighted this, and then made me get in my memory bank. A young man who is a talented golfer, goes from walk-on golfer to maybe an NCAA champion. Yeah, it's very possible. An incredibly talented guy. He had to prove his worth, this is the American dream in a lot of ways, prove his worth to get on the golf team. And how he did it initially was an afterthought, what, club player?

Yeah. Yeah. Not even on the club team. On the club team, not even on the varsity team. No. who rode a scooter down Ivy Road, which is a one-lane road on either side with limited shoulder to the Borset and Birdwood, oftentimes with his golf bag on his body.

That takes a lot of talent. Waring a scooter at 20 to 25 miles an hour, while cars speed past him at 50 miles an hour, on a road that has no shoulder carrying a golf bag on his back that is how heavy in weight? Oh, I don't know. I've never measured that,

but it's pretty heavy. 60 pounds? Yeah, at least 60 pounds. I mean, this is a wild story. To get to Birdwood, to play golf on the club team for the love of the game, then he is uncovered

a diamond in the rough he makes the varsity and this past week is a key contributor to a championship that every Virginia golfer wants to win. Set the stage, Judy. Yeah, I mean, I will be shocked later on if the Golf Channel or whoever, I think it's the Golf Channel that televises the

collegiate national championship, which is back in San Diego again this year, I believe. I'll be shocked if they don't do a feature on Paul Chang, the guy you're speaking of. It's one of the greatest stories not just in golf in the United States this year, or even the world, for that matter, but in college athletics of any sport, because it is what's the American dream come true. Here's this kid. He came from China.

He went to school in England. ended up at UVA was a club golfer, as you said, just a club golfer. And the story was that fascinated me was that here this guy comes out of nowhere and Bowen Sergeant, who's been Virginia's golf coach for 22 years now.

Your friend? Yeah, a great guy. Just kept notice. noticing this kid, like you said, Rodney's scooter over to Birdwood every day to practice on his own. He would be there working on his game before the Virginia golf team arrived to practice. He would, after practice, the kid was still there working on his game. And Bowling, we used to give his team grief saying, this kid over here on the scooter works harder than you guys do.

and still, you know, he didn't pay him that much mind, but I guess it was serendipitous that Bowen went to scout a guy in the U.S. Am qualifier in Williamsburg. I think this was 2023 in August, and so having the kid that he was going to scout was paired that day with Paul Chang, the scooter boy. And Paul Chang was kicking everybody's butt in this qualifier and qualified for the U.S. amateur. And after about watching him for 30 holes in the 36th hole qualifier, he called Dustin Groves, his assistant coach,

and said, hey, this kid can play. We got to see if we can find some scholarship money and, you know, it was already in August, so most of that money was gone, but he had Paul to come to the office the next day, and they offered him what little they had, but Paul took it. And he's been a valuable member of their team ever since. He just won back-to-back tournaments, which is rare in college golf that you can do that. It was his third tournament win of his career. And, you know, he's good enough that, you know, if he gets hot at the right time,

he could end up being a second team All-American or could possibly win the NCAA championship in Bowling's estimation. And, I mean, he's in there with guys like Ben James, who's the number one-ranked guy who's going to be playing on the PGA tour, most likely, in about six weeks. 100%. It's just a fascinating story. You like Cinderella stories, as I used to say in the Caddyshack. This is truly a Cinderella story.

I'll take it even a step further here. The Jerry and Jerry show and this content and business partnership that we have is approaching its three-year anniversary. Yeah. You and I met initially, do you remember where, to brainstorm this partnership? I think it was at Birdwood. Is that Birdwood? Yeah.

I'm having a beer. I believe you had a soda of some kind. We're sitting next to the window overlooking the massive Davis-love putting green. While we're there, Bob Shada, who watches this program all the time, I've dubbed him the vice mayor of Vivachi and the big baller of Birdwood, the mayor. he comes up and talks to us. Yep. Three years ago, Paul Chang is there. In Birdwood, just finished around.

Another guy named Mo Barros, Maurice Barros, a mortgage broker, introduces you and me three years ago to Paul Chang. At that point, he was known to the weekend and everyday player at Birdwood and was not a household. name with Farsity Golf yet. Yeah. It was three years ago. Yeah. I distinctly remember I've been going to Borset for almost four years to work out to play squash, leisure, whatever it may be, meetings.

Pulling the family Ford Explorer down the big hill into Birdwood or driving down Ivy Road and seeing Chang on his scooter with his golf bag on his shoulders, trying to play frogger with his life on the shoulder of Ivy Road. That's definitely Frogger. 45 mile an hour cars, trucks, automobiles, vehicles are whisking by him while he's navigating the white line on the right side of the road

and what might be a couple of feet of space before the gravel ditch. And then he goes down the hill to Birdwood. And now he is maybe one of the most Cinderella darling special stories of all of college sports yeah i hope this story catches on catches fire nationally because it deserves it it's it's one of those heartwarming stories that uh comes along ever so often in sports that that makes sports so special 100% i uh i actually met him and i i can't remember

what year it was it might have been that the same year or it might have been before that uh He played in the kindredge at Farmington and was, I remember they called him, I don't know how he pronounced it, his first name is really spelled RUI. I don't know how he pronounced that. And someone introduced me, I think he had a good round or two, and I interviewed him. And I didn't think much of it because he was talking about being a club golfer. and I was wondering then why he didn't walk on it, Virginia or something, and try to make the team.

But, you know, if you can play in the kindred, you're usually pretty good. But, you know, I don't think I saw him again until he resurfaced last year, I guess. We should put into perspective for the viewers and listeners the significant of what is actually happening here with the UVA Athletic Department. It's not the Sears Cup anymore. Is it called the Directors Cup? It's called the Directors' Cup. Yeah.

The Director's Cup, and I'll see if I can find the Director's Cup standings. I think Virginia was number three in the country after the winter sports. That's right. That's right, 2020. The Directors' Cup standings. Let me see if I can put it up. I mean, good as gracious, Hootie, we're talking about a dream season here. The first winter update as of April 9th.

2026. North Carolina is number one. Tar Heels, Chapel Hill. They're usually right in there. They're phenomenal. 781.5 points. Stanford is number two. 746.25 points.

Stanford usually wins it. They usually win it. Virginia number three, 696.75 points. Princeton and Ohio State round out the top five. This is the Leerford. Directors' Cup standings. UVA, according to,

how would you characterize this, the most well-rounded athletic departments in the country in athletics? Pretty much, shall you say it? Yeah, yeah. You know, usually spring sports is one of their forte, so they should pick up a lot of points in the spring. They're number three right now.

Three ACC teams at the top. And, you know, that's something that that Craig Littlepage made kind of built his career on when he became AD at Virginia as he met with

you know I think their stated goal at that point was to become the Stanford of the East and darn if they haven't done that and I did a story it's been some time ago now

I think it was the year they won three national championships in one year. And I did a story and just on all the ACC championships and national championships they had won during that span and they've added to that obviously since then, but

it was mind-blowing what they had accomplished over there and he deserves a big pat on the back for that along with John Oliver who helped him fashion that kind of an athletic department and Carl Williams for continuing that legacy. It's absolutely been a special ride here. And Hootie's right.

It's the spring sports that is one of the most dominant seasons for this Virginia Athletic Department. But as of the April 26th update, UVA sits three in the nation in the Director's Cup standings, which analyzes and basically, deterrence the most well-rounded athletic departments in all of collegiate athletics. Bob Seffick is watching the program right now. As I mentioned, Renee Pedifer, Dan Lee, Vanessa Parkhill, William McChesney, all watching the program right now.

Like and share the show on whatever platform you're watching upon. If you have a question for Hootie, Bobby Kohler, Lauren and Ivy, put it in the feed, and I'll relay them live on air. A lot of questions are already coming in. A lot of questions tied to football. This one from Cliff Ray Daisy on the eastern shore. with the peanuts. That's right.

I'll tell you what, these peanuts right now have been an absolute treat. Even Judah Wickower has enjoyed some of these peanuts. He's licking his chops like the Cheshire cat behind the camera right now because he loves that salt so much. He wants Hootie Racklips take on the spring football game, and he said specifically,

can you span, expand upon Prebula's performance in the spring contest? Yeah, certainly, and hello, Ray. I hope things are well. enjoyed our lunch last week. And thank you for the peanuts. You know, they played six quarterbacks in that game, and the second half was a lot of running clock, so we didn't, and there was a lot of second and third team guys in the second half.

So it was limited as to what we could see. Pribula and Holstein only got limited exposure, but one of the things that jumped off the page at me was frivolous speed, and I wrote something about that this morning. He's faster than Chandler Morris was, and he loves to run the football, and that was evident.

And, you know, there was certainly the quarterbacks were off limits. If they got tagged, sort of like two-hand touch or flag football, the play stopped, and it was a, sack or whatever. They weren't allowed to try to escape or anything. And if they went beyond the line of scrimmage, usually they blew the play dead. But it was evident that he has a burst.

And once he gets out in the open field, he can take off with it. A lot of those runs that were blown dead would have probably been 10 or 15-yard runs. And he loves running the football. And they knew that that was one of his strengths from watching him at Missouri. What they wanted to observe was not just Saturday because they didn't get that much playing time, but throughout the spring was his ability to throw the ball, what he's comfortable with in their offense, kind of like they did with Chandler Morris and giving take on what he's comfortable running, what he's not comfortable doing.

Tony Elliott was looking at other things that a lot of us don't look for during games. He was looking about how he interacted with the sideline and with the rest of the team and leadership qualities, things like that. Holstein had a series with three really nice passes and one long gain in there. again, we didn't get to see an extended

a bunch of time for most anyone, particularly the quarterbacks, but we saw that there's plenty of running back depth, Zay Davis, and the three new backs, Middlebrook, Peyton Lewis, and Solomon Beebe, all had impressive runs. More than one impressive run, we saw some pretty nice plays made by the wide receivers. Wright from Kent State came up with a lot of catches.

We hadn't heard a whole lot about him this spring. Rico Flores had a really long reception. He's a guy who says he'd like that. to take the top off and he's a really confident kid. Peyton Lewis had a really nice run. He was suffering from the stomach flu. So he got caught from behind, which that's not going to happen when he's healthy.

But we saw a little bit of his abilities once he sees green grass in front of him. And Middlebrook, I could see why they compare him a little bit to Jamari Taylor because he doesn't mind running between the tackles and getting the tough yardage. Beebe, the same. Davis the same.

Defensively, it was hard to tell, but they had some guys that we hadn't heard much about who one fellow, gosh, I'm trying to remember he's name now because we hadn't heard much about him this spring. He had moved over, as Rozynski said, he had eaten his way from defensive end to defensive tackle with gaining weight. I can relate to that.

Chase Morrison, third year from Roswell, Georgia. He had, I think, four or five sacks in the game, which was amazing. just a pretty good overall day for everybody. It was nice to see Dakota Twitty back and running it tight-in. He's a difference maker at that position, and allows him to do some things with his experience and his versatility that makes that offense click more than your average tight-in.

So that's a key returner. to the program. Some guys set out with recovering from rehabbing from injuries, surgeries, etc. But one of the beautiful things that they do now is that they get 16 more practices, some coaching organized, some player organized throughout between now and fall camp to help them develop a little bit more, which will help a lot with some players organized. of these transfers getting acclimated to Tony Elliott system. And once spring or excuse me, fall camp opens up, a lot of these guys will all be on the same page.

They spent a lot of the spring installing stuff, fundamental stuff, just trying to get everybody, all the new people blended in and and buying into what they're doing. Tony Elliott said after the game, which I thought was significant, was that in some of the past springs, he didn't feel like that they maximize their practices every day.

And he would find himself having to chase down players and yelling at them and do this, do that. Why aren't you doing this? Why aren't you doing it? He didn't have to do any of that this year. He felt like they maximized every practice, and these guys bought in early and fully into the system.

And thusly, they're way ahead right now of where they were at this time last year. Comments are coming in, and Hootie-Rack with a fantastic analysis about spring football. Rob Garland, I'm going to get to your comments here. He's an incredibly talented photographer. Rob, those comments in a matter of moments about basketball. William on McIntyre Road highlights just an absolutely fantastic story about Ball-Chang. And thank you for sharing that, Jerry Rackleff. I've shared the Scooter Boy link in the comments section of my personal Facebook page.

It's on social media and it's on Jerry Rackliff.com. The headline is Scooter Boy Makes Good. If you want a Rags to Rich's American Dream, one of the best Cinderella stories in college athletics, you must read that story. Vanessa in Ehrlichville says I would absolutely thoroughly enjoy seeing Bo Pribula have a spectacular. spectacular outing against James Franklin at the end of the season. She's a Penn State alum. She thought Prebola was done wrong. James Franklin now and Blacksburg as the head coach of Virginia Tech.

And what a wild story it would be. If Prevula goes toe to toe with this former coach who, how would you, and I'm sure it's a storyline that's going to be covered, the relationship, the dynamic, how the relationship ended, the status of the relationship. Yeah, and I don't know that we've fully explored all that at this point. For those that don't know, Pribula's dream was to go to Penn State and went there and was there for two or three years, didn't really play, transferred to Missouri and had a good year last year and now he's back in Virginia and of course James Franklin, his coach at Penn State

is his rival now at Virginia Tech. So that could be a pretty interesting storyline at the end of the season for sure. Vanessa is right. I cannot wait to see that storyline written, especially if there was some action or some meeting to that final regular season contest. Rob Garland, who's one of the best photogues in the business, says Jerry Rackleff, I would love your thoughts on men's and women's basketball and what might transpire regarding the transfer portal acquisitions. You've been covering this in detail at Jerryorackliff.com. Well, I've been trying.

There's not a lot out there about what's going on in the portal with Virginia right now. I think most of Ryan Odom's focus was to get to retain the guys that he could retain. And everybody's back, everybody that he could pot. possibly have back is back on that team. I think that was priority one. Certainly they have talked to some people in the portal, and I'm sure they will continue to. There's still people entering the portal as we speak.

I know people have been somewhat impatient, because they see all these other guys signing all over the country and stuff. I think they're being very careful on what they're looking for. There hasn't been a lot of news about that. They flirted with a couple of NC State guys. It looked like one was coming here, and then Alabama came in with a big bag of money

and kind of took him away. And so there's some other guys they're talking to and courting with, some that we know about, some that we don't. In terms of the women, I thought the biggest news they could have had was getting Mo Johnson back. That was massive for Aaron Roussel and who added to his staff yesterday, and I can't recall the lady's name right off the top of my head, but she was former Florida Gators head coach for five years.

year, five or six years, I think, and is now his assistant head coach. She's a really good recruiter. I know that. And has developed some McDonald's, All-Americans down in Gainesville. So he's, I think, Brianna Hurd and Olivia McGee, we're all back coming back out of the portal. maybe another player I can't recall and then it looks like to me he's got everything going in the right direction and so I think

Virginia men's and women's basketball are looking really good right now and if you stop and think about it with all the guys that Ryan Odom has coming back he may have supreme confidence because he works with these guys every day in practice that he has he can go

seven or eight deep with what he has coming back right now. So he may not want to go and he may not be going out and signing five people from the portal. He has five available scholarships, but it's like one prominent coach said the other day.

I think it was the coach of Houston said, just because I have them doesn't mean I have to use him. Calvin Sampson. Kelton Samson. I heard him say that. And Kelly Ray Finley is the new associate head coach at UVA. Absolute fantastic analysis from you.

Previously the head coach with the Florida Gators from 2021 to 2026. Right. Aaron Roussel as his conciliary has hired the former head coach who most recently served as the lead whistle in Gainesville in 2026. Now she's an associate head coach for Aaron Roussel in Charleston. Yeah. On the men's side, Ryan Odom, as his conciliary, has hired the former head coach of Syracuse.

Red Autry. We can make a legitimate argument. This is crazy to say. The men's basketball team that is coming off a 30-win season has the former head coach of Syracuse as the associate head coach, and is returning its core four players of Chance Mallory, Grunlow, DeRitter, and Sam Lewis, off a 30-win team. Yeah.

Unbelievable. Think about football. Football, 2025 versus 2026. In 2025 football had 11 wins, the most wins in a single-season campaign in UVA history. And football in 2026 at this point of the season, I'm comparing spring 2025 to spring 2026, I can make a convincing argument that spring 2026 is further along than spring 2025. Yeah. If nothing else, just the fact that

John Rugginski said the other day, he said in last year's spring game, we had linebackers playing in the secondary because we didn't have any defensive backs. He had to go out and sign six defensive backs after spring practice was over out of the portal. So if nothing else, their way had just with that one fact alone. You got two starting quarterbacks.

Two quarterbacks that legitimately are college football high-level starters. Yeah. And for those that know more about Pribula than Holstein, Holstein... And people literally know about both. I mean, I've seen comments on Pribula and Holstein all over the feed. Vanessa is saying Franklin absolutely underutilized Pribula. He's got a fantastic. talent. This question's come in. This one right here is from, it looks like the western side of

North Carolina on our heat map. Holstein is a pocket passer with a lot of upside, little rough around the edges. If you can refine this talent, he is a program to build a guy you can build a program around. Yeah, no question. And that's what Pitt was doing. They were 7 and 0 at one point with him and he was putting up numbers that hadn't been seen in Pittsburgh since the days of Dan Marino he hopes to get back to that

form and get his confidence back I think he got beat up a little bit and lost his job and he had a few turnovers but yeah they've got two proven quarterbacks. Holstein was recruited to Alabama by Nick Saban for goodness sake.

Nick Saban doesn't make too many mistakes in recruiting. And then Prubula speaks for itself. I mean, he won some SEC games against really good teams and played some top 25 teams to the wire last year. This

comments come out of the fee. This is coming from Arizona. Let me let me highlight the viewer and listener that's watching the show in Arizona. Randy Clark. Yeah. Hi from Arizona. Hey, Randy. Is it true the NIL budget is less than last year for this year?

I don't know that. I don't know that we'll ever find that out. There's all kinds of rumors out there, but I don't know that that's true. I don't see why it would be because you've got the money coming in from the national laws that they passed last year and then there's been more gifts to the program, football and basketball program

coming off of last year's money. And I know they invested that well, but I don't know that they're, That's true. And we kept hearing different numbers last year for football and basketball. I think basketball, some people were saying it was around 20 million. I think the real number was somewhere around 12 million. Football was north of 20 from what we understand. And again, they don't make those numbers public and they're not going to comment on those numbers.

so a lot of it's here so I don't know that we'll ever know we'll continue to strive to find out but I can't verify that that that's valid Diane Webster watching the program and giving the show some props right now comments are now coming in really quickly

to the show we'll highlight the viewers and listeners that are watching Rob Neal Philip Dow one of the Shenandoah Valley's finest backstops and Michael Plecker is watching the program Jeff Bibb, a talented referee, watch of the program right now. Viewers and listeners, put your comments in the feed, and I will relay them live on air to a Virginia Sports Hall of favor, Jerry Hootie Rackleff, the namesake of Jerry Rackleff. How about this one for Hootie Rackleaf?

Who looks like the starting tailback to you, Hootie? That's from Richmond, Virginia. Yeah, I think that's up for grabs. How about Solomon Beebe? Solomon Beebe. baby showed some flashes the other day and so did Middlebrook so did Jay Davis so did Sam Lewis and Xavier Brown's coming back and so

was Noah Vaughn it's a well-stocked room and that unbelievable you know they're all different kinds of backs Sam Lewis is a bigger back he's like 6125 maybe a a little heavier with world-class speed or at least national speed and has two years of experience at Tennessee under his belt.

All these guys have played some significant roles in their various programs, but I think, I don't think we're going to know who's the starting tailback until late in fall camp because each one of them brings something different to the table. They all seem to be pretty good pass blockers from what I've learned. Some of them are better pass receivers than the others. I think that's something they would like Lewis to improve on. And I think they're kind of waiting like they did last year. They're waiting for somebody to separate themselves from the others.

And that's what Jamari ended up. doing last year in camp. I think that they're kind of kind of kind of waiting on the same thing this August to see which one of these guys steps out in front. It could be any of those guys, really. They're all really good.

Do we, I mean, I can't count how many comments are saying, asking questions about the quarterback now. I would not imagine there's going to be an official quarterback. He's the starter. announcement anytime soon. Is that safe to say or no? I would say that's safe to say and I think it's something that's smart for a coach to do because if you, I think most people generally consider that Prubula is the starting quarterback but I don't know that that's been determined at this point.

If it is that hasn't been announced, if you announce that it takes a little bit away from the competition. And iron sharpens iron. You want both those guys going in the camp competing for the starting job. And it makes both of them better when they're both out there fighting for it. And it's good to have both those guys at the top of their game because how many times have we seen quarterbacks go down in recent years? The last few years straight.

Yeah, Morris got hurt in the first game of the season. Musket and Calandria. Muscat and Calandria. Morris got hurt and missed the pit game. The kid before them got his ribs crushed in at BYU and couldn't play. Brendan Armstrong. Couldn't play against Notre Dame. It's rare for a quarterback to go through an entire season unscathed.

So it's good to have two guys that can get the job done, and they have two guys that can do that. And it's a good thing. Not only is there an abundance of riches, but there needs to be an abundance of riches at college football now as everyone's bigger, stronger, and faster. And if you think about it, the college football athlete is older as well. I mean, we have grown-esque men playing college football now.

Absolutely. 22, 23. Chandler Morris is 25 years old, folks. I mean, when you're 24, 25 years old, and you're hitting a 19 or 20-year-old that's a massive disparity and bigger, stronger, faster. So there is a tendency for injury at skilled position players because there's more meat and mass on the football field now

maybe than ever before because of what's happening in these wild west. That's why their strength and conditioning programs are so important that particularly for the guys who take a lot of hits and even some of the guys who deliver those hits to be able to have a body that can absorb that kind of punishment, particularly running backs because they get hit pretty much every play. And that's part of it.

So, yeah, you've got to have yourself in top condition to be able to handle that kind of physical abuse for it's like getting in a street fight every week for 12 or 14 weeks. Have you heard anything about ticket sales? Comments are coming in on that. I have not. And I haven't looked into that.

I haven't actually even thought of it until now. So I haven't looked into that. It would be interesting to see where they stand with that at this point. But that's a good question. That's something I'll have to do this week. UVA opens the season the 29th of August against NC State. Remember, this is a neutral site game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Does the Jerry Rackcliffe.com travel budget afford a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil?

I don't think so. I don't think we're making that kind of money. It is the Rio de Janeiro Brazil-NCete matchup in a conference game or a non-conference game? I think it has been made a conference game. Because the past one was not. They've gone to nine conference games. Now, so I think that one is designated as a conference game now. Last year was not.

You're correct. Norfolk State is the home contest. Delaware is the home contest. They got moved to Friday night that opening game against Michael Vick's team. That's right. Which I think won only two games last year. Norfolk State's head coach is Michael Vick, and it was moved to Friday night because of the noteworthiness of Vic as the head coach for Norfolk State.

the home football games for UVA this season, Norfolk State, Delaware, Syracuse, Duke, Cal, and UNC. How do you characterize the schedule? This is the early, early, early characterization of the schedule. It doesn't look that brutal, really if you look at it. I think playing NC State in Brazil, I don't know how that's going to affect things. I know the reason they're doing that is money.

They'll probably make at least a million extra dollars for making that trip and giving up a home game. I just don't know how that's going to come out. They just don't play well against NC State. They haven't for years. And then they have another neutral site game against West Virginia and Charlotte later on in the season. And I guess that's a game that could have been a home game. I'm not sure.

I don't know if there was talk about trying to do a home-and-home with them or not. but essentially they have six home games, I guess four road games and two neutral side games or maybe five. Well, let's see. They play 12. So, yeah, I guess that's right. If you look on there, I don't think there's a whole lot of teams that are going to be preseason top 25. The only one I would say just because of historical significance,

Florida State in Tallahassee and a must-win year for the Knowles. But really it's... And they're coming off another horrible... Terrible year. ...I mean, what do you make an argument for? Obviously, Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, North Carolina, the second to last game of the season at home in Charlottesville. Cow, you're not going across the country to Cal.

Cow's at home this time. I mean, I guess SMU and Dallas? SMU and Dallas could be a toughie. they'll probably be a top probably be a top 25 team I would think this is a great schedule for Virginia in Dallas it won't be easy

right the ponies are tough anywhere certainly at home but this is a great schedule for Virginia it's not a daunting schedule at all not a daunting schedule at all this comments come in this one's from short pump who does who do you think is the best player on offense and the best player on defense

on this team well I think on defense It's Cam Robinson if he returns to the same healthy person that he was before, and I expect he will be. I don't think there's any question about that. Offensively, probably one of those offensive linemen who will be probably the highest draft prospect on the team would be my guess at this point. It remains to be seen, you know, what the quarterbacks will do or some of the running backs.

But I would say at this point it's probably one of those offensive linemen, the best player on offense. Is your instinct say pre-bola is going to be the starter? Yeah, it does. I think, you know, he has, he's coming off a good year. He's built a lot like. Chandler Morris they're kind of the same body type he's faster I don't know that he's as good a passer as Morris was don't know about his decision-making at this point but I would I would suspect if I had to put money down on it

today I would say he'll probably be the starter but you can't discount Holstein either he's he's proven he can play I This comment comes in, and this one's here in Charlottesville. Would Rackcliffe say that the offensive line is a significant upgrade versus last year? Yeah, I think it could be the best offensive line in the country. At least it's in the argument. Certainly the most experienced offensive line in the country. Everybody pretty much is back.

Drake Metcalf didn't play in the spring game. He had a swollen knee. but that helped Ellinger get more experience to play that position. So they'll increase their depth there. They have more depth, I think, than they did last year. They have guys with three, four years of starting experience almost across the board. They have the big kid from Louisville who was supposed to play last year, and his backup, who also missed the season.

They both went down with knee injuries early in training camp. Both those guys are back to go along with Josie and Michael Bowley. Loaded. Yeah, they are. They're loaded on the offense. Talking to some of the quarterbacks and the running backs, they said that was one of the reasons that convinced them to come here because they know they're going to be protected

and running backs that are expecting some big holes from that offensive line and they're going to get them. That's a great offensive line. I mean, you're looking at a team, are we looking at a preseason top 25 here, Hoots? They could very well be

the way they finished last year. They finished, what, 17? No, that was it? Was it 18? Maybe it was about, yeah. 16, 18, something? Somewhere right in there. Maybe it was 17.

I can't recall. Let me see if I could find it. I think it was 17. It keeps popping up with my head for some reason. But I would think for the people, and again, don't get me started on the AP voters. 16 and both.

I think a lot of, okay. I think a lot of voters these days don't do their homework. But for the other, those who do, I think they will recognize that this Virginia team is probably should be considered for top 25 preseason. Not that really means anything. Sure. But I think they're worthy of it.

Yeah, 100%. 100%. 16 and both to close the season, an 11-win campaign, and a convincing argument can be made by both Hootie and I that this team, at this point of the campaign, at this point of the year, spring versus spring, spring, 2025 or spring 2026, the 2026 team has more well-rounded talent on the roster. We can make a convincing argument here. We've talked basketball. We've talked football. We've talked transfer portal.

We've talked spring game. We should talk spring sports. A spring sport roundout perhaps something that's standing out to you in the spring sports season. Yeah. Well, I think the baseball team is definitely doing well. They're ranked in all three polls as high as. ninth or tenth than one of them, I believe.

That's right. And they're coming off an impressive series win over Clemson, who I think is an underrated program. They're better than their conference record. They played Liberty for the midweek game this week. Then they go up to Pitt. So I think they'll probably pick up a little steam from that. they're just knocking the heck out of the cover off the ball.

I think they're way ahead of last year's home run total already with plenty of series left to go. The lacrosse team, disappointing, heartbreaking loss. Coming back the way they did against Carolina and tying it up with one second to go, that was miraculous what they did. and then lost in overtime. And the golf team, obviously, as we said, is doing well.

The men's and women's tennis teams made it to the conference finals, the track team doing well, softball team is doing well. Almost every spring sport is doing well. So I think it's something to celebrate if you're a while. That's absolutely. There. Tennis? Yeah, the tennis is... They both made it to the ACC Championships.

I think the men lost Wake Forest. I can't... Did the women? I don't know if they made it to the championship game or not. Men's tennis legitimately has pro-tennis players playing on this roster, folks, like they always do. Yeah. Kenneth Knuckles loves the cross. The Wahoos, he says, got help from Duke this weekend.

Their third loss in a four-team. Right. They lost to Notre Dame. Yeah. So an abundance of absolute riches here with spring sports. What's in the hopper, who do you, Rackleaf? Well, a lot of things. Again, we'll keep our eye on the men's and women's portal.

Still be writing some leftovers from spring football. We have some players to highlight that had good springs, including the Holstein, which had a light month. moment with Tony Elliott last week when I asked him about Holstein and he said, well, he's already picked up a nickname from the team, which means he's acclimated well. And I said, well, what's the nickname? And he said, Hellestein. He said that Jam Jackson had picked him up from class and drove him five minutes to football

practice. And they had had a conversation in the team meeting after practice. they were asking guys to trying to figure out if they were knowing their teammates and asked Jam okay uh jam who's this guy over here and they pointed to Holstein and uh

Jim said oh yeah I don't know his first name but his last name's Hellistine so they uh everybody roared laughing over that one and so they he's been called Hellie Hellestine Hellcat everything else in practice. But we'll be doing all that.

Spring Sports, obviously. Check out Greg Waters stuff, please, if you're a baseball fan. I'm going to try to make it down to Henrico on Saturday night for the 53rd annual induction weekend of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Tony Bennett is going to. in and Wally Walker is going in from UVA. So that'll be a delightful experience to see those guys honored. I'm writing tonight. I had a great interview yesterday with a guy. I'm not going to name him because I'm afraid somebody might try and jump up and steal the story before I write it.

But it's a former UVA football player who's written a book and it's going to be you talk about another heartwarming story in Americana. This would be it. I think people will eat it up. I don't want to give too much away, but I guarantee you're going to love the story because it's one of the more bizarre things I've ever seen happen in football.

And it's going to be highlighted during the NFL draft in Pittsburgh this weekend. And there's even rumors out there that this book could be turned into a movie or a TV series. So I think tune in later today and you'll be able to read about it. And again, it's an unbelievable story. Jerry Rackleaf.com, $8 a month. The price of a... Worth $8 just to read this story.

Price of a Starbucks call. Coffee gets you, I mean, folks, we're talking 50, 60 pieces of unique content a month at Jerry rackliff.com and it's counting $8 a month, the best content possible. And Hootie Rackleaf during the show, two new subscribers to Jerry Rackleff.com. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate that. Thank you. We continue to grow every day.

Susie for joining the family here just a matter of five and a half minutes ago. We certainly appreciate that. Thank you, Susie. And Bruce Millam. We love the interaction on Jerry Rackliff.com, as do the interaction with Jonathan Coleman. Thank you guys for watching the show. We appreciate you guys.

Judah Wickhauer is behind the camera. Judah Wickhauer's the Elmer's Glew of the family, the Elmer's Glew of the team. He's the wizard. He's the wizard. The Wizard of Wickhauer. Jerry Rackleff is our star. He's been on the beat for 50 plus years.

There's no one that has more institutional memory. No one who has more award. in honors and accolades. He is a Virginia Sports Hall of Famer, and his content is available at jerry rackliff.com for just $8 a month, everything and anything UVA sports related. My name is Jerry Miller.

Our 1230 show, the I Love Seville show, is about an hour away. We thank you for watching the Jerry and Jerry show, and we hope you will spread the word about what Jerry Rackleff is doing. So long, everybody. Nicely done, hoody. Two new ones here.

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