‘He’s one of the best men I know.’ Clemson players react to Elliott to Virginia news
Following days of speculation around Charlottesville, Virginia, former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott’s move to become the next head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers was finalized Friday.
Elliott had been on Dabo Swinney’s staff at Clemson since 2011. He worked as the Tigers’ running back coach from 2011-14, co-offensive coordinator form 2015-19 and was Clemson’s sole OC from 2020-21. Elliott played wide receiver at Clemson from 2000-03.
Elliott’s departure became official less than a week after Clemson lost defensive coordinator Brent Venables to the Oklahoma head coaching job Sunday.
Current Clemson football players took to Twitter on Friday to share their thoughts on Elliott’s move.
“Super blessed to have @Coach_TElliott as my position coach for 5 years — seriously he’s one of the best men I know,” sixth-year senior running back Darien Rencher tweeted Friday. “Super happy for him and his family. Nobody more deserving of this opportunity! @UVAFootball y’all getting a good one — great coach, better person.”
Rencher followed that tweet with another related to the hire.
“To be honest any knowledgeable person knew all of this would come eventually, but it still is crazy seeing it actually go down in real time,” Rencher tweeted.
Clemson defensive end K.J. Henry shared his reaction in response to Virginia’s post about Elliott.
“Aight yall starting to have (too) many parties now,” Henry tweeted with two sad face emojis. “… Love ya Coach E!!”
Tigers’ leading tailback Will Shipley tweeted an indirect message just before Virginia officially announced the Elliott news. Shipley quote retweeted a post from Pastor West, a faith leader in Baltimore.
“Be patient. God is just moving the pieces around,” Pastor West’s tweet said.
“If this ain’t true,” Shipley tweeted with the eyes emoji in response.
When Elliott’s move to Virginia began to generate buzz earlier in the week, Clemson class of 2022 tight end commit Josh Sapp told The State he hadn’t been told too much of the news about Elliott’s potential move at the time, but he said it wouldn’t be a factor in his commitment to the Tigers.
“They haven’t been telling me too much about whoever is leaving or not. I’m all in regardless of what is happening,” Sapp said. “I will be sad if (Elliott leaves), but I will be there regardless.”
Elliott, 42, will be a head coach for the first time in his career at Virginia.
The State’s Lou Bezjak contributed to this report.
