Red Zone no longer the Dead Zone for UVA offense

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Two major points of emphasis for Virginia football in the offseason were to increase production in the red zone and third-down efficiency. As of last Saturday, the Cavaliers are off to a good start.

Last season, UVA was dreadful in both categories, one of the worst offenses in America in those departments. In 2024, the Wahoos finished No. 117 in the country in third-down conversions (a success rate of only 34.3 percent), and tied for No. 101 (out of 133 teams) in red zone offense, scoring 19 touchdowns on 44 visits inside the opponents’ 20-yard line.

Certainly that wasn’t the case last Saturday night when UVA converted 9 of 18 third downs and scored four TDs in six trips to the red zone, vast improvements over last season.

For the players involved in red zone offense, crossing over into paydirt was a blast.

“Most of the times when you’re down there in the red zone, the box is loaded, so you know it’s mano-a-mano, it’s me versus that guy and it’s a test of your pride, your willingness to succeed out there on the football field,” said UVA right guard Drake Metcalf. “We’ve been talking about that since last season with our goal-line struggles, and we’re making an effort now to put an exclamation mark on that goal line when we’re out there.”

Tony Elliott realized after last season’s shortcomings that something had to change, so he and his staff decided to put everything under the microscope and make the necessary changes.

“We researched a lot of the concepts that we were doing,” Elliott said.

But the work didn’t stop there.

“We researched the teams that were in the top 25 to see kind of what their efficiency effectiveness was, what they were doing, to the point to where we changed a lot of even the installation moving red zone earlier into our practices,” Elliott explained.

They created a mindset of being effective scoring TDs in the red zone on day one, not only in spring practice, but also in fall training camp. UVA put in the work in the fall based off the research.

Change also was enhanced by personnel acquired via the transfer portal, particularly offensive linemen who added beef to the equation, particularly in obvious run situations where the Cavaliers created a Jumbo package with some rather large wide bodies, including in the backfield to smash lighter defenders.

When reserve quarterback Grady Brosterhous was injured in camp, Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings had to become even more innovative. Wahoo fans will remember how successful Brosterhous was last season with the “tush push” quarterback sneak made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles. UVA’s version was dubbed “The Grady Bunch.”

Without Brosterhous, who should rejoin the offense in a couple of weeks, Virginia lined up a running back beside the quarterback in shotgun formation against Coastal Carolina and the running back took a direct snap and ran the ball “wildcat” style.

There was also successful use of the Jumbo package with extra linemen inserted to move the pile, something Metcalf & Co. were fired up for.

“It’s super exciting to be able to run plays like that and get all the beef in there,” Metcalf said. “It’s just a car-crash collision. You’ve got guys pulling, you’ve got guys coming down and crashing through the play side. Ultimately it leads to carnage, and carnage leads to success on the offensive line when it’s moving in the right direction.

“We get that package in there and you know it’s about to go down … it’s about to be a bar fight.”

Saturday night’s performance brought smiles to Kitchings’ face on Wednesday when red zone was mentioned.

“What it entails is that we hadn’t been very good,” the OC said. “It had to be fixed. From the 20 to the 20, for the most part, we’ve been pretty good in moving the ball, but have stalled out. Now, with the addition with running backs (and linemen), it was about finding the best way to get us the best angles and numbers.

“It could be heavy personnel, it could be three receivers, depending on the best way to attack that opponent. We practiced it Monday, again Wednesday and we will walk through it Thursday. We can’t stress it enough.”