The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Virginia Football Practice Starts On July 29; National Media Ranks Elliott One Of Worst Coaches

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

The Jerry & Jerry Show headlines: Virginia Football Practice Starts On July 29 National Media Ranks Elliott One Of Worst Coaches Inside The Huddle: News, Notes & Next Steps UVA’s Thijs De Ridder Granted 2 Years Of Eligibility Odom Building Significant Recruiting Momentum Ty Jerome Selling His Home In Los Angeles 2025 UVA Baseball Class Ranked Top 8 Nationally Fanbase Engagement – How Do You Grade It Now? 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. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on a Tuesday morning in downtown Charlottesville. We are less than two miles from Scott Stadium, a location where football practice will begin in one week. Tony Elliott under tremendous fire from national media, from regional media, and from folks around the Atlantic Coast Conference. We'll talk about that on today's show. But I look at it this way folks, it's a clean slate, it's a start to a new season. So it's an opportunity for Tony Elliott and his embattled staff to write or create their own destiny. And it's a must-win year for a coach who over the last three

years has posted the least amount of wins and all of power football. Yes you heard me correct, Tony Elliott staffed the least amount of victories and all of power football over the last three years. A lot we're going to cover on this program including an international basketball talent granted two years of eligibility at the University of Virginia. Does that mean ladies and gentlemen that Derrida will stay two years at Ryan Odom and the John Paul Jones arena and the Ryan Odom's basketball team? No, but he has two years of opportunity to play here in Charlottesville. We know he's gonna do one. He's on grounds and boy, oh boy, does this kid have upside. We'll talk about that today.

We'll talk about a baseball team getting national recruiting accolades and national recruiting rankings and we're going to take your questions. I'm going to ask you the viewer and listener, how do you characterize fan base engagement at this point of the athletic year? So much to cover on the Jerry and Jerry show. Judah Wickhauer, if you could have Facebook messenger open

for me, if you can go to the studio camera and a two-shot and let's welcome Hootie Radcliffe to the show with comments already coming in. My friend, good Tuesday morning to you. Same to you brother. Nice to see you again and I just want to thank all the viewers that join us each week. It's a delight to hear their feedback and just a really intelligent crowd. I'm really delighted with the people we attract to this show every week. I concur. I absolutely concur. They keep us on our toes. Let us know if you have comments for the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer.

I will relay them live on air. Hootie Radcliffe, we start each show with scatter shooting with Jerry Radcliffe. Well, you know, it's a big week media wise because ACC kickoff is all week long in Charlotte. Virginia will take the stage late this afternoon. And then Tony Elliott and his staff will meet with state media or anybody else that wants to show up I guess on Friday. So lots of interviews coming and lots of stories to be generated from that before practice begins in earnest. Wig from today. Comments coming in. We'll

talk Tony Elliott. We'll talk Des Kitchens. This comments come in for the third straight week. Does Tony Elliott take over play calling duties if the offense struggles in the first part of the season? I will ask that to the Virginia Sports Hall of Famer in moments. First, we need to talk content that's on JerryRackliff.com. My friend Tony Elliott and the crossfire of national media, of ACC media, and of insiders around the Atlantic Coast Conference. Yeah, he hasn't received much love from the national media, that's for sure. A lot of the football publications and some of the other national media

sites have taken some pretty serious shots at him in their preseason coverage. And probably the worst is from some of his colleagues and in the ACC a piece by Athlon in which coaches can anonymously offer up comments about all the other programs in the conference. And I didn't read all of it, about all, you know, everybody's comments about every school in the conference. But I felt some of the ones concerning Virginia were pretty harsh.

I'm sure Tony Oeh would like to use that as some bulletin board material. Some pretty nasty shots about them being sloppy and unorganized and you don't have to worry about playing Virginia and etc etc. So he has a chance to make some people eat crow this season. Tony Elliott and this is on jerryrackliff.com. Head to jerryrackliff.com and you can read this. Listen to this folks, Hooties put this in perspective. CBS Sports ranked Tony Elliott among the four worst coaches in major college football. The

sporting news ranked him number 77 nationally and dead last in the ACC and Hootie Rackliff writes, perhaps the nastiest comments came anonymously from ACC colleagues who took their shots in a poll conducted by Aflon. His colleagues are saying they're in trouble. Elliott seems in trouble. Most everyone expects there to be a coaching staff change at the end of the season. They are unprepared. They've never delivered on offense. Geez, Louise, is this fair? It's pretty harsh. I mean, there is some truth to that underlying in the fact that their offense has been the biggest disappointment of anything over the past three years.

Which is why he got the job. Yeah. I mean, he was an offensive coordinator for a team that's won national championships and been in the playoffs. And I think Virginia fans in general expected some of that flair to show up in Charlottesville and it really hasn't. And it's going to have to this year or it's curtains, I would think. Practice starts in a week. Yeah. ACC kickoff right now, ACC media days.

I ask you the question each week, I'm going to ask it to you again here. When you meet with the team at the end of this week, what questions are you going to be asking? Well, we'll get to, on Friday, I don't think the players are going to be there. I think it's just going to be coaches. We'll actually get to talk to players throughout training camp. They'll have certain guys set aside after various practices that we can talk to. So our first questions will be to the various assistant coaches and

I'm sure it'll be standard stuff talking to the offensive line coach about how this year might be different than in the previous seasons here where they haven't really had much depth or talent on the offensive line and that seems to be taken care of and then obviously everybody's interested in the offense and how it's going to be different maybe not schematically but in terms of opening it opening it up and putting some points on the board because they that's one area they've struggled particularly in the red zone for three years now, and that has to change. Defense doesn't worry you too much. Rudzinski really seems to know what he's doing and has done a pretty good job and

seems to have plenty of talent on that side of the ball. So I think most of the eyes are gonna be focused on the offense and whether they can generate points. Who's the most talented offensive player on this roster? I think probably the quarterback, Chandler Morris from North Texas State, TCU, Oklahoma, wherever else he's been. I mean, he's got the numbers in his resume and he's got the experience. He's dealt with three or four or five different offenses during his career.

And it's gonna be a matter of whether they can protect him and keep him clean and give him time to do what he does best. And if they've surrounded him with enough talent to take some of the pressure off him so he can shine at his position. Will this be tailback by committee? A question that comes in the feed from Charlotte, North Carolina.

I think it probably will be. You got the kid from Wyoming, you got the kid from North Carolina Central, I believe it is, Taylor, Jamari Taylor. A few other guys, Xavier Brown, I guess, is back. Had a huge game against Coastal Carolina, their season opening opponent this year, when he rushed for over 200 yards and that was a porous defense. So you can't take that too seriously.

But I think Tony would prefer to go with one guy and give him the bulk of the carries, but I don't know if there's, you know, how much separation there's going to be between those three guys and anybody else on the roster. So it may be, they may have a starter, but it may be by committee until somebody is able to nail down the job. Another question comes in the feed or a comment alluding to Tony Elliott needed to take play calling responsibilities. Do we see that happening?

This is the third week in a row someone's asked that. Well, I was kind of hoping from the get go that he would be doing that. I know that's a lot of responsibility for a head coach, although some guys are pretty adept at doing that. I don't know if I'm bringing in a guy who's had that kind of success

at the highest echelon of college football and that's his strength. To me, that's part of the negotiation in the contract is I know you want to be head coach and I were know we're putting a lot on your lab but we want you to call the offensive plays you know you're and have a certain expertise in doing this and you've proven that well I turn it over to somebody that hasn't been as successful in that area of football that you have. And so I was hoping that they would do that from the very start of when,

as soon as he hit town, but it hasn't happened. I don't think it's gonna happen in his fourth year, I think. I'm shocked by this, frankly. I think he's turned it over to Des. To Des and trust Des and is going to let him do it. Now, he may have more control in the planning sessions, the game planning, in meetings during the week leading up to it.

And certainly, he has override power if there's a call that he doesn't agree with and he can change it but Tony's a pretty loyal guy I don't think he's gonna do an immense amount of that I imagine things are gonna stay status quo would be my guess viewers and listeners what do you think of status quo and are you surprised with a coach who is coaching for his life, his job? Are you surprised that he is not taking over play calling responsibilities? Put it in the feed. I will relay it live on air. You have TV, radio, and print media watching

us right now on the Jerry and Jerry show. Hootie Radcliffe, I look at this team and for me the quarterback's got talent. There's depth at the tailback position. The defense has got some depth, but goodness gracious, and it cannot go understated. That offensive line has got to protect the quarterback. And we've seen an offensive line that, in the past, under Tony Elliott, can go one deep, but not too deep.

This may be the exception. It should be from everything we've read about in terms of them bringing in guys from the portal and then the holdovers from last year like Noah Josie and some of those guys but yeah I mean that that has been one of the biggest problems in this football program going back for years. Bronco struggled with that. Mike London struggled with that. I guess you gotta go all the way back to the Al Groh era

before you find teams that had really outstanding offensive linemen who ended up with NFL careers. I think London had a couple of guys. Bronco may have had a couple, but the lack of depth along the offensive line is what has killed them over the years. And I mean, it seemed like week after week after week, we would hear the coach bemoan the fact that, And I mean, it seemed like week after week after week, we would hear the coach bemoan the fact that we don't really know who's

gonna be our starting five this week on the offensive line. Because a couple of guys are banged up, they're playing hurt. There's nobody really with quality playing time behind them. And that has shown because I mean, Anthony Calandria was running for his life almost constantly for nearly two years. Tony Musket got beat all to hell against Tennessee in that opening game two years ago and took him a while to get healthy again. And Brendan Armstrong, for the most part, was having to run a lot.

It's been a constant problem and it's also been a problem in the fact that they haven't been able to control the line of scrimmage and develop a viable running game to keep defenses off. problem in the fact that they haven't been able to control the line of scrimmage and develop a viable running game to keep defenses honest and to take a little pressure off those quarterbacks to where they don't have to scramble so much and have time to throw the ball to they've had some pretty good receivers but a lot of times they just don't have the time to get the ball to them. Who do you rate? Rackliff comments continue to come in here.

This is an interesting one. ACC wise, who is he watching as a team to beat in the conference? And what does Rackliff think the talent is in the ACC across the board? Well, I think it's better. I think a lot of ACC teams have finally invested a lot of money into the portal and they realized they were behind the SEC. They were definitely behind not only the SEC but pretty much everybody else and some might argue that they're still behind but they've made

some strides. I think there's no question that Clemson is going to be the overwhelming favorite to win the league and they're pretty loaded this year. They have a more talented roster than last year and the voting at the end of the ACC kickoff this week, I'm sure is gonna bear that out, that Clemson is gonna be predicted to finish first in the league, and then after that, I think it's gonna be Miami, which has a lot of talent. They've acquired a lot of talent.

SMU, we've talked about them all last season about money is certainly no object in Dallas. And then after that, I think it's going to be interesting between Louisville, North Carolina, and Florida State because a lot of people, even though Florida State has allegedly reloaded, there's a lot of pressure on Mike Norvell this year because if he can't get it done this year, I think he's gone. Yeah. And there's even been rumors that Nick Saban's ready

to come in and take over that job, but I don't think we're gonna see that happen. But it's interesting that people are talking like that. And tremendous curiosity factor in Chapel Hill as to how Bill Belichick will adapt to college football. And I mean, he is running essentially a pro football program in Chapel Hill. He's doing everything the same way he did in New England for so

many years with a general manager and full staff just like they had with the Patriots. And they've recruited well, and they've done well in the portal. So a lot of people are, I don't know how much pressure there is on him. A lot of the preseason magazines and predictions I've seen have them winning seven games. But I'm not sure that's gonna satisfy Carolina fans because they've invested what more than 50 million dollars in

their football program between his and his coaches salaries and the portal and the GM and everything else and if you're spending that kind of money is seven wins gonna be enough to satisfy a starved fan base? And then somebody brought up the fact that, you know, they're kind of starting over at quarterback, and they've had some elite quarterbacks here the last several years and still can put together more than seven wins. So are they gonna be able to do it with lesser talent at quarterback? But Louisville remains a little bit of a mystery. They always lose and gain a lot of people through the portal.

But overall, they've done a pretty good job. So I think that- Fantastic fan base. I think, yeah, no question about it. I mean, that is essentially their pro franchise. Louisville's a pretty good sized city, for those of you who haven't been there. They've put a lot of additions into the football stadium over the years. And their arena is one of the nicest in the country. So with a huge waiting list for season tickets.

And so that city really rallies around that program and they're hard to beat at home that's for sure but I think those those six schools are probably going to be the upper echelon of the ACC this year and it's up to everybody else to prove whether they can break in or not. Kevin Yancey watching in Waynesboro he says let's wait and see what they do with competition beating up UVA on yourselves in practice doesn't really show who or what you are. And we're in agreement, Kevin Yancey,

the proof is in the pudding. And the pudding starts about a month from now in week one. This question comes in from Southwestern Virginia. What is the reputation of the Atlantic Coast Conference right now? And how does the ACC try to reestablish itself as one of the key conferences in the country? That's a good question.

Yeah, it is. I think the league has upgraded since last year. They weren't anything to write home about last year, that's for sure. They bombed out pretty much in the playoffs. And it's gonna be interesting to see what happens this season with, I think they have more potential programs that have a chance to make the playoffs than they did a year ago. And it's just gonna come down to the last few weeks and you can fight off any upsets down the home stretch to see who can get in there.

I think their national reputation is probably gonna be a little better, a little more enhanced this year just because I think the overall league from top to bottom is a little better than it has been the last two or three years. Any of those six teams I mentioned have opportunities to make some noise for sure. This is a good question for you. If you were ranking the top five teams in the ACC right now, how would your list shake out? I would probably go Clemson. I would probably vote Miami second, although I'm always hesitant to put too much stock

in Miami because they always seem to find a way to blow it. SMU, I think, they have a really good quarterback coming back, and I think he could be the difference. They could finish in second. Those three then I think, again Florida State is such a mystery because you just don't know what to expect. Everybody thought they were going to be good last year and they were a disaster. They have a quarterback this year that came from Boston College, Castellanos kid, who likes to talk. And I know he's already given Alabama a lot of Bulletin Board material in the preseason for their opening game. He may live to regret that, but but it's really tough to between Louisville, Florida State, and North Carolina as to who you want to put in those fourth and fifth spots. If you believe in Bill Belichick and his ability to run an organization, you almost want to lean in his direction.

But just because they have some really experienced coaches, some really good coaches in that program now. And I think Mike Brown had some guys that didn't live up to the task the last couple years and I think that's why they struggled so much but I think with the kind of staff that Belichick's put together I'm not sure I'd be hesitant to put them in fourth and after that it would be a toss-up between Florida State and Louisville I think. The follow-up question Florida State and Louisville I think. The follow-up question to that is what's the bottom of the conference look like?

Oh wow. That's even harder. Yeah. And then another question we have on the feed is who's the best football team in the Commonwealth? How about bottom of the ACC first? It doesn't have to be between Wake Forest and Stanford for the very bottom. Both of those programs seem to be struggling. After that, there's going to be a lot of teams with a lot of 50-50 games, it's going to depend on how they sort those out.

I mean, I think Cal is one of those teams that could be in the middle of the pack toward the bottom. NC State could be as well. Boston College. Syracuse seems to have upgraded their talent a little bit, but we'll see. I think you got teams like Virginia and Pitt who, if they do what they're supposed to do, should be middle of the pack. If they do any less, if they do what they're supposed to do, should be middle of the pack.

If they do any less, then they could plummet a little bit. Virginia Tech is a bit of a question mark. A lot of pressure on Brent Pry down there in Blacksburg. I think his seed is pretty hot, because their fans have much more expectations than Virginia fans do. Virginia Tech or UVA? How about that one for you? And who's the best team in the Commonwealth? I think there's more pressure on Brent Pry than there is Tony Elliott, although anything less than expectations that we could see both of those guys from being replaced but I think there's more pressure on

Brent Pry just because because the tech fans are, they've been frustrated for several years now. Well, and it's their sport. It's their sport. They pour everything into that. And their expectations are much higher, I think, than Virginia fans. And I mean, they still fill up the stadium for the most part even for a

Mediocre team that struggles to get into a bowl game every year, but You know they how much longer are they going to do that? It's the best football team in the Commonwealth in Harrison Burke I Don't know. There's been so many comings and goings and I'll be honest, I don't keep up with JMU very much. I know they were picked to, I think, win their division in their conference, but how that stacks up against Virginia and Virginia Tech, this particular year, we'll just have to wait and see. It's hard to compare.

Out of conference opponents, certainly at different levels of football. Yeah, there's no question. They hardly have any common opponents. I think Liberty is not supposed to be as good as they were last year. And Old Dominion and William & Mary are, I know William & Mary is usually picked pretty high

in their conference. But I would be reluctant to say JMU's the best program in the state right now until we get some more evidence of that. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. We'll relay them live on air. Comments continue to come in as practices one week away. You guys have been talking, this comment comes in, you guys have been talking about the offensive line, quarterback play, but not much comment on comments on defense. Can Hootie offer some perspective on what's on the defensive side of the ball? offensive line quarterback play but not much comment on comments on defense. Can Hootie offer some perspective on what's on the defensive side of the

ball? Yeah, you know I think they're in pretty good shape. They have they have depth everywhere and particularly in the secondary which is I'm sure is a huge relief for Rodzinski. They've made a lot of pickups late after spring practice of defensive backs. And there's been times like the offensive line where if somebody went down, they had to play somebody out of position. They've double trained most of those guys to be able to play somebody out of position. They've double trained most of those guys to be able to play safety or corner and even work into the nickel package and I'm not sure that that's going to be the case this year. They

seem to have a lot of depth at corner and safety and brought in some guys with experience and some pretty good credentials. So I think maybe this will be the year where they don't give up a lot of explosive plays, particularly when they have somebody playing out of position or somebody not with that much experience that they have to throw into the fire. I think the defensive front, the front seven is pretty loaded. They've got a lot of experience in linebacker. Some really good players like Cam Robinson and McDonald and some big dudes on the front three, front four. So I think they've got depth and I think Rudzinski knows what to do with these guys.

I think what we might see this year is a little bit more of a pass rush than what we've seen the last couple of years where they haven't really been able to put much pressure on the opposing quarterback and it's hurt them big time because they've been picked apart by the real experienced quarterbacks who have who've had time to get the ball where they want it and that might be that might be a major difference this season if everything comes into fruition the way it is expected to. Rob Neal watching, he's a die-hard JMU football fan, a JMU booster. He says there are three common opponents for JMU and UVA this year on the schedule.

Coastal Carolina, I'm sure. But he also says, but I'm not saying the Dukes are ACC quality. We will see. But there are three common opponents. Okay. He says, what are those three Rob? Out of curiosity. Probably William and Mary maybe. I couldn't tell you that off the top of my head.

He follows JMU closer than anyone I know. I don't know who the third would be. One opponent and you know this was a home and home. What happened with Indiana? That's a good question. I think- Set the stage for what? The story.

Yeah, well, you know, Virginia had a home and home series with Indiana scheduled for 26 and 27, I believe. And all of a sudden Indiana decided to buy its way out of that commitment. I think it cost them $500,000 to do so, and replace Virginia with, I don't know, Kennesaw State or somebody like that. And what's our Illinois Kennesaw State? They also bought their way out of a Louisville series with Louisville. They played Louisville in 23 and Louisville beat them I think in Bloomington and so they turned around and arranged a home and

home with them after that and Indiana bought its way out of that too. Apparently they don't want to play anybody outside of the Big 10 who is a threat to beat them. They've picked on a bunch of smaller schools. And if it were Virginia, I could see that being a smart move because you're trying to rebuild a program that has had so many losing seasons. But Indiana was in the college football playoffs last year, and so you wouldn't think they'd be that frightened from some non-conference teams. But part of the reason they got into the college football playoffs was because of a weak schedule. True, yeah they had one of the weakest

schedules of all the power football last season and a lot of people didn't feel that they deserved to be in the playoffs, me being one of them, and I think they proved us right about that. But a lot of people are calling them chickens. They won't. They don't want to be tested. Rob Neal watching the program. Although I will say this Virginia and you've already highlighted this. Virginia in rebuilding mode perhaps that's the strategy there to utilize. Virginia would be. Indiana I don't know. I mean they the Big Ten has gone to nine conference games, so that only leaves them three non-conference and I'm sure they're trying to play as weak opposition as they can because they don't

want to take away from a potential mediocre record. Right. And the Big Ten's no joke. No, no joke at all. And I think the fact that they won as many games as they did last year was an aberration. I don't think we're going to see that. I don't care if Signetti claims he's a winner all this time. We'll see if he's a winner.

And come back two or three years from now and tell me he's a winner. Signetti, I love his flair and the fact that he talks some smack. Sometimes it's a bit over the top. Rob Neal says the common opponents with JMU and UVA, Coastal Carolina, Louisville, and Washington State. Interesting. That's a pretty aggressive schedule for JMU. I'll give them credit for that. Yeah, absolutely. I give credit for JMU building that program and he's a booster. They are greatly enhancing the facilities and the infrastructure around around the Duke's program.

He says Signehti took the Indiana job because he said he saw 10 guaranteed wins and their 2024 schedule. Then he posted a pic from his Indiana office with with Integra on his desk saying time to go shopping with Jamie Ross on his saying, time to go shopping. With JMU Roster on his desk saying, time to go shopping. So I guess he's gonna hit the transport portal. I appreciate the comments from Rob Neal there. Yeah, JMU, I'll give them credit.

That program is one of the fastest moving programs in the country, I think. And they could, if they continue to improve and perform the way they have the last several years, I think and they could they could if they continue to improve and perform the way they have the last several years they could end up in a you know a bigger conference when the Next reshuffling Comes whenever that is probably five years from now. It's a whatever that's gonna bring us right whatever that's gonna bring us exactly right This comment comes in.

Special teams, will it be a strength this year or not? That's a good question. And with so many new players, it's really hard to tell. I think their punter is Sparks. I think their punter is back, right? I believe he's back. So that's certainly is a strength. He's one of the better punters in the conference. I think he's got another year of eligibility. I thought he was there in the spring. I may be wrong. Kicking wise, I think they should be okay. They have a number of guys that look like they're good candidates for kickoff return

and punt return. It's just a matter of finding other guys that are committed to on those kickoff and kickoff return teams that do their job and don't allow big plays to happen, particularly on the kickoff and kickoff return teams that do their job and don't allow big plays to happen, particularly on the kickoff return and punt return, which hurt Virginia tremendously two years ago. They shored that up a lot last season, but still didn't completely correct it, but made some strides. I think it should be, I don't

know if it'll be a strength but I certainly don't think it'll be a weakness. We're a week away from practice viewers and listeners. We're a month away from kickoff. It's getting real now. It is getting really real. Friday you meet with the coaches? Yeah, Tony and his staff will be available to the media on Friday. Something they've done all four years. You meet over in the George Welsh indoor facility and have a little lunch after interviews. And it's always a good time to just sit down casually with the assistant coaches and pick their brains a little bit. It's always an enjoyable time.

Folks, we are itching for college football, as Hootie Radcliffe calls this, the calm before the storm. And I'll tell you something that's constantly in the news is Virginia basketball and some positive news for the Wahoos as an international talent gets two years of eligibility. Derrida granted two seasons by the NCAA. Will he play two years? Only time will tell. We certainly know he's going to play this year. What do you make of the Deritter News? This is pretty monumental from my standpoint. Well it was a long time coming, that's for sure, and we were told through various sources throughout the process that hey this may take a while. In some ways I'm surprised it didn't take a little bit longer because the NCAA tends to drag its feet on matters of that kind and I thought something might happen when the Virginia Tech kid is also 22 years old and a I think a European

transfer portal guy was granted three years to play five years to play three years earlier in the week and so I figured well if that's the case then I think the de Ritter news might be really close behind and it was took one or two days after that. Huge news for Ryan Odom. I think it gives along with Grunlo and Ugo, I think it gives Virginia one of the most formidable front courts in the ACC and I wouldn't want to line up against those guys. I mean you got 22 year old or a 22 year old guy who's played in the Spanish league I guess for a couple years against some grown-ass men and also 19 year old German Grunloh who's played in some of the pro leagues over there in Germany, I think, or Belgium, whatever. But

again, going up against people like Jason Anderson and some of the other former Virginia players who were over in Europe. And then Ugo, who's played at Kentucky and Kansas State, and is just a really big dude and physical, and has experience. I mean, that's a completely different looking front court than Virginia fans are accustomed to looking at. I know, it's a completely different looking front court than Virginia fans are accustomed

to looking at. I know. It's the complete opposite. You used to look at those guys and say, well, those guys are going to get broken in half. Right. But not these guys. You're not going to move these guys. In fact, these guys are going to be the ones breaking people in half because they know

how to play physical basketball and they're big frame bodies and they can get the job done. I can't wait to see what happens with this program. They have such a different look and I think the fan base is gonna really rally around this team from day one. Because the style of play is so different. Yeah, it's gonna be kind of fun because we saw what JF could do as a seven footer who could shoot to three and stretch the defense and

Grinlow can do that at seven foot seven one. He can definitely step outside and hit the three except I think he's more physical than Jay was and then certainly the other two guys are physical and one of the things I saw in some video practices were Virginia's guards driving into the lane and ooping it up to Hugo or somebody and letting them finish it at the rim. So they're gonna have so many options with a versatile front court like that and then so many guys who can shoot the ball from the perimeter and drive and dish. I just think it's gonna be a fun team to watch.

It's gonna be such a fun team to watch. It's gonna be such a fun team to watch. I completely agree. It's gonna be an up-tempo defensive team that's gonna fast break. I think it's, it's, it's, I'm excited. I'm excited, viewers and listeners. And we know expectations are gonna be sky-high. And speaking of options, from JerryRackliff.com, Ty Jerome in the real estate game, my friend. Yeah Yeah we saw that in the New York Post somebody sent it to me and I can't remember the numbers now but I got them in front of me. Really nice house in LA. Yeah. Outside LA. Studio

City. You know more about LA than I do even though I've been there a few times, I still don't know my way around there. But I just couldn't use the photographs because they're copyrighted. But what a beautiful home he has. And I'm sure he did a lot of entertaining there. And wow, I mean, the pictures of that place would blow you away. It's just a beautiful home. Ty Jerome selling his home in Studio City, Los Angeles, 2,866 square feet. It's a ranch style home.

This is on jerryrackliff.com. Four bedrooms, five bathrooms. He's not going to make much money in this transaction. In fact, he's probably going to lose money. He paid $2,580,000 for the home in February of 2024. He is now looking to sell the home for $2,590,000. After closing calls and perhaps a negotiation, maybe a loser here financially financially but the photos are gorgeous a pool a fire pit a quarter acre lot an open floor plan and the Los Angeles lifestyle for Ty Jerome who got a big-time contract three years 28 million

to play with the Memphis Grizzlies where he will be a key cog off the bench backing up John Morant. Yeah. And he's moving to Memphis. He said he's going to buy a home in Memphis. Yeah. And I haven't been to Memphis in a long time. Memphis is a fun city. Yeah. Especially if you're 28 and have money.

Especially downtown. Downtown Memphis can be a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun a few times I was there but I mean hats off to him he's earned it. He's earned it. He's done a tremendous job and I'll never forget the first time I interviewed him. Smart guy. Freshman year early in the season might have been the season opener down against UNC Greensboro. I think the game might have been played at the Greensboro Coliseum and he played, he didn't play very well and I remember interviewing him after the game and he said that he was vastly disappointed in

himself that he knows he could knew he could play better he was going to tape that box score up on his bathroom mirror so he had to look at it every day as a reminder that he can do better and they certainly did He developed into one hell of a basketball player. One of the greatest. I'll never forget that one three pointer he shot down at Cameron indoor stadium when they beat Duke his, I guess his junior year. And that just put the nail in the coffin and you could just hear the air seep out of Cameron which is a very

strange feeling if you've been there as many times as I have because that doesn't happen very often. The Ty Jerome situation in the NBA is a good one. He's got three years with Memphis, some money and a lot to prove and he's entering his prime with basketball coming off a impact year where he was on the short list for six man of the year and on JerryRackliff.com he also highlights that Jay Huff who's got a lot of talent now he's not the biggest guy but he's a very skilled big man not the strongest guy heading to to play with a known commodity with Virginia alumni. Yeah, headed to the Indiana Pacers,

where he'll play for Rick Carlisle. No stranger to Charlottesville. I've run into Rick probably more than any other former Virginia player over the years, except for maybe Ralph. He's here all the time, except for maybe Ralph or Sean Singlet Ralph. He's here all the time except for maybe Ralph or Sean Singletary. He's here all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Travis Watson. He doesn't live here. Right. Rick doesn't live here. Travis lives here. Yeah. Sean lives here. Ralph's right around the corner from here. Yeah. But I

thought it spoke volumes that Rick Carlisle came here at his own volition two days after they lost in game seven of the NBA Championship to meet with the Virginia team and just share his experience as a Virginia alum and what this program did for him and his career. I mean he came here from Maine, from University of Maine, and probably didn't know exactly what to expect and ended up starting a point guard on some of the Ralph Samson teams and made it to the NBA as a free agent and maybe a walk-on. I can't remember with the Boston Celtics and studied basketball and was part of that great organization and around a lot of great players and later got into coaching and I'll never forget Larry Bird

saying that Rick Carlisle knew more about offense than anybody he had ever met. So that's quite a compliment coming from Larry Bird. Larry Legend, Rayne Clark watching in Gilbert, Arizona. Wow, thank you. I agree with Hootie that this is the most formidable front court in the ACC. Back court looks good as well. Shouldn't they be at least a tournament team? I don't want to speak for Hootie here, but my expectations as a guy that's been following

this program for almost 40 years is that this should be a tournament team. I think so. I don't think there's any question about it. My expectation is, and this is maybe aggressive maybe you push back on me here that this is a preseason top 25 team they could be and I expect they will be in some polls I don't know about the consensus but I'm sure they'll make a couple of top 25s and certainly the talent is there to qualify for a top 25 preseason team

although I don't really know what that means. Right. We've seen that happen in the past and and especially with the musical chairs. Probably when it shouldn't have in a couple of on a couple of occasions but I think the talent is there to get the job done. And again, Ryan's big objective, just like Tony Elliott's, is to essentially rebuild a team from scratch with practically all new players. He has 0% scoring returning from last year. One of only two teams in the ACC, Virginia and Miami, who have that challenge ahead of them.

So that's, and you know, it's not like the rest of the ACC has sat on its hands. They've gone out and acquired lots of talent through the portal as well, although I think Virginia has spent as much money as anybody in the ACC in putting this roster together. So I have expectations for them. I would be really surprised if this team doesn't make the NCAA tournament.

I would be shocked. I would be shocked and disappointed if team doesn't make the NCAA tournament. I would be shocked. I would be shocked and disappointed. Yeah. If they don't make the NCAA tournament. Marlene Jones watching the program, she says, can you offer any perspective on the general manager positions? For basketball, no, I can't because we only had 20 or 25 minutes I think with Ryan, who was it, two weeks ago to ask questions.

And it was our first chance to talk to him since he was announced as the basketball coach. And so we were trying to get our questions in. You know, you're lucky if you get more than one question in during that time frame. And I don't think anybody brought that up and Ryan didn't bring it up. So the last comment he made about that was back in April, I believe or early May. And at that time, he said he wanted to get his roster complete, his coaching staff and support staff complete.

And then they would address the general manager. So it appears that all those things are complete now. We really don't know where that sits right now in terms of if they're interviewing candidates or if the process is still ongoing. I don't think there's any huge rush because they've. They filled the roster secure this roster. They they're making offers to a lot of people for the class of 26. So, um, I don't think there's a giant rush to bring somebody in at this point. And I hate to say this, the position may even get filled without press or announcement.

Well, they're good because it already was. The football one was. Yeah. And so was the women's basketball. Right. We didn't know about those until. And we didn't know about Carla Williams' contract extension.

Right. So it's not like they go out of their way to announce things like that. Maybe she will address it on her own podcast. On her podcast. That she's doing now. Yeah, right. So maybe that's the case. I will say this, that with, and Carla Williams gets a lot of heat and I think it's deserved.

But with what she's doing with her podcast being kind of front, more frontline, that's what the athletic director has to do in this era of college athletics. Be the ambassador or the evangelist for the department. And I think that's her foray into being the evangelist, this podcast, because it's a controlled setting for her, where she's getting almost a script that she can kind of like stick to. She's not the most outgoing or charismatic leader.

I think that's fair. And this podcast is a controlled setting that could cater to her strengths. charismatic leader. I think that's fair. And this podcast is a controlled setting that could cater to her strengths. It's a step forward, but I would still like to see her be more present with the rest of the media instead of just being a house organ. I think it's more meaningful when you can talk to the vast media and field questions and do interviews and do podcasts with them. I just think it makes it a more transparent process.

I totally agree. Close with baseball. Golden nugget from JerryRackliff.com. His column, scatter shooting. Goodness gracious, Chris Pollard's got a good recruiting class. Unbelievable. Number six or seven in the country, I think. I think it has an opportunity to maybe jump up, yet maybe another spot when all

is said and done. And he's now getting really some really good commitments from the, for the class of 26. It's incredible. It's incredible. Some really big time players. Yeah. This might be the best recruiting job in one season

that Virginia has ever had. Right. If you stop and look at the- It's incredible. At the numbers of the people he's ever had. Right. If you stop and look at the numbers of the people he's bringing in. Now a lot of those obviously were previously committed to Duke, either high school

or through the portal and flipped. But credit him and his staff for being able to convince those guys to come to Charlottesville and it's it's really dismantled Duke's program because I was looking at the top 100 recruiting classes And while Virginia is up in the top seven Dukes know where to be found on the top 100 list so That That could be a problem for the blue doubles. Chris Pollard, ladies and gentlemen, his baseball class for 2025 is number seven

nationally according to the baseball publication Perfect Game. This is on jerryracliff.com. All the spots ahead of UVA are SEC teams. LSU, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. And here's the sweet part here. Brian O'Connor's class is behind Chris Pollard's class. Yeah, at number eight. At number eight. So the top eight are all SEC teams, except for one,

UVA at seven. And that ranking could uptick. It could, and I mean that says a lot about Virginia baseball and the fact that they can recruit on that level. And the resources they're putting into baseball. Yeah, because the SEC is not shy about spending money on baseball. Right. And it's considered the premier conference in the country in terms of college baseball.

And so you'll also, if you look at the attendance figures in college baseball, and I haven't seen them for this past season yet, but in the last two or three years, Virginia has been right up there with the SEC programs in the top 10 or 12. And those, in that category, which I think is the only non-SEC team to be included in that group. So that speaks a lot about Virginia baseball

and the program that O'Connor built here. Well said. Well said. Closing thoughts and what's in the hopper at JerryRackcliffe.com? Well we'll be monitoring everything from ACC kickoff. I don't think most of our readers care much about the rest of the conference per se until Virginia actually plays one of those teams. But we'll keep our here to the grindstone on all that and particularly what Tony and some of the players have to say in Charlotte. And also big story on Chandler Morris, the quarterback, giving people a little bit more of an

inside look at who he is what he's done and what he's all about. I can't wait to get to know Chandler Morris through JerryRackliffe.com. Check out his website JerryRackliffe.com follow him on Twitter. I very much encourage you to to read his scatter shooting column and it's just loaded with golden nuggets loaded with content on football, basketball, baseball, some lacrosse in there as well. Goodness gracious it's a fantastic read. Judah Wickhauer behind the camera we have monikered him the MVP. No question about it. What would we do without him? We get to sit here and talk about stuff we enjoy. Yeah.

He keeps us online. He keeps it all out there and puts it all out there so everybody can see it. That's right. Judah Wickhauer, thank you very much. The I Love Civo Show Guys Up is up at 12.30 p.m. Thank you kindly for joining us on the Jerry and Jerry Show. So long. Hold on, ready?

Same to you, brother. Tell us when the mic's... I'm going to go ahead and turn it off. I'm going to turn it off. I'm going to turn it off. I'm going to turn it off. I'm going to turn it off. I'm Same to you, brother.