CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Tony Elliott had just claimed the biggest win of his coaching career, leading No. 16 Virginia past rival Virginia Tech to clinch a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game.

Yet as he stood at the podium for his postgame news conference, Elliott thanked three mothers before mentioning football.

“This one’s for them,” Elliott said of the mothers of Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, the players fatally shot on campus in November 2022 during Elliott’s first season. “We’re not here without the inspiration that they provide us on a daily basis.”

It was a reminder of how this has been a season of redemption for Elliott and a program that had a precipitous slide after former coach Bronco Mendenhall abruptly walked away in 2021.

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