They’ve dealt with a head coaching change in 2021 and getting accustomed to a new coach and his style.

They dealt with five defeats by a touchdown or less last season.

And, of course, they dealt with the shooting deaths of three teammates late in the 2022 season.

“It’s time for these guys to enjoy the fruits of their labors,” Elliott said Tuesday at the ACC Football Kickoff event.

“They’ve had to deal with some things that weren’t of their making,” said Elliott, entering his third season as the Cavaliers’ head coach. “Now we need to go out and win some games and play in the postseason. Those guys deserve that.”

UVA’s football fortunes began to unravel weeks after Bronco Mendenhall resigned as head coach in December 2022. The Cavaliers had landed a spot in the Fenway Bowl, but a COVID outbreak among the Virginia players forced the game to be canceled.

Elliott’s first season, played with many new faces in the Virginia lineup after numerous transfer portal defections, ended with a 3-7 record — and tragically the Nov. 22 shooting deaths of Lavel Davis Jr., D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler. The three players were killed by a shooter on a bus after returning from a field trip. Running back Mike Hollins and another Virginia student were injured.

Then came the frustration of the five narrow losses and a 3-9 record last season.

Time to move on

“I wouldn’t have chosen for things to happen this way, but everything happens for a reason,” Elliott said.

Now, the Virginia coach said, it’s time to move past the troubled days.

“That first spring I was here, we had only six scholarship players,” said Elliott, a former offensive coordinator at Clemson. “We’ve been able to grow since then.

“When you look at the last two years, you can see that we’ve laid the foundation. Competitively, we are much improved.”

If you’re looking for good news, there is some to be found.

The Cavaliers have two promising quarterbacks and figure at least one of them should step forward this season. Senior Tony Muskett and sophomore Anthony Colandrea split time at the position last year.

Muskett and Colandrea are friends, and Muskett said Tuesday that Virginia will be solid at quarterback.

“AC is a great kid,” Muskett said of Colandrea. “We get along really well, and a lot of the credit goes to (quarterbacks coach Taylor) Lamb. He works with both of us and has helped keep us close.”

Colandrea and Muskett will have returning receiver Malachi Fields and transfers Chris Tyree (Notre Dame) and Andre Greene Jr. (North Carolina) as targets.

Injuries hurt the defense last season, with defensive end Kam Butler missing much of the season with a pectoral muscle injury.

“I feel really good and am excited about getting back,” said Butler, who had 3.5 sacks in three games last season before getting hurt.

The Cavaliers also are strong at linebacker, with James Jackson and Kamren Robinson leading the way.

Some problem spots

Potential problem spots are the running game and the secondary.

The Cavaliers weren’t a good rushing team last season, ranking 105th out of 130 FBS squads. They averaged 118 yards a game on the ground, so Muskett and Colandrea might have to provide much of the offense with their arms.

“Running the ball well is critical,” Elliott said. “We need to make our opponents respect our running game.”

In the secondary, three starters from last season are gone. Elliott said he used the transfer portal to reload there, but we’ll have to wait and see how the newcomers fare.

Elliott is hoping his team can make a statement in its opening four games.

“With the way our byes happen, the season is divided into four parts,” he said. “It will be nice to get off to a good start.”

Those opening games are against Richmond, Wake Forest, Maryland and Coastal Carolina.

“Our mindset is that every game is the most important game of the season,” Elliott said. “But we need to start strong.”

Defensive end Chico Bennett said last season “was frustrating.”

“You always want to win,” Bennett said. “It was a matter of four or five plays. Our guys know we’ve been close.

“But we’re tired of just being close. Now it’s time for us to win.”

It’s a hope that what began last October in a homecoming victory over Wake Forest will continue this fall.

Around the ACC Football Kickoff this week in Charlotte, the question among more than a few media members has been: “Is Virginia Tech football back?”

Head coach Brent Pry and three Hokie standouts who accompanied him to Charlotte this week are saying the right thing.

“It’s a good feeling, getting this attention,” quarterback Kyron Drones admitted Tuesday. “But we know we are not yet the team we want to be. We must be better.”

But Drones added, “I feel more confident.”

There are plenty of reasons for confidence around the Virginia Tech program:

• After a 2-4 start in 2023, the Hokies finished 5-2 and smacked Tulane 41-20 in the Military Bowl.
• The Hokies rank fourth in FBS in the category of returning players who produced. And they rank No. 1 nationally in returning offensive producers.
• Most key players return from a pass defense that was among the best in the country a year ago.

‘It was chemistry’

“I think it was chemistry,” defensive end Antwaun Powell-Ryland said of the Virginia Tech surge last fall. “I think we got comfortable with each other.”

Powell-Ryland was a standout on the 2018 Indian River High team that finished 12-1 and reached the third round of the playoffs. He was picked to play in the Under Armour All-American Game and went on to play at Florida for three seasons before transferring to Virginia Tech before the 2023 season.

“We got to know each other a lot better last season,” Powell-Ryland said. “And it’s good to be getting the attention this year. But we’re still working the same way to prepare for the season.”

Asking whether Virginia Tech football “is back” would have seemed unimaginable 15 years ago. Between 1993 and 2011, the Hokies compiled a 193-58 record and were regulars in Orange and Sugar bowls.

The program slipped a bit about a decade ago, but recorded seasons of 10-4 in 2016 and 9-4 in 2017.

Then things sort of went sideways.

After an 8-5 season in 2019, Virginia Tech went 14-21 over the next three seasons.

Pry arrived in 2022, and an inexperienced Hokies team finished 3-8.

All of that changed last fall, and with a lot of returning talent and a solid recruiting year, there is plenty of hope in Hokie Nation.

“We have momentum,” Pry acknowledged Tuesday. “But we’re nowhere near the team we want to be.”

Few portal losses

Somehow, Virginia Tech managed to avoid being gashed by the transfer portal. Only a handful of players left for other locales.

“It’s about bringing in the right people,” Pry said. “We try to bring in people who want to be at Virginia Tech.”

There are question marks, to be sure.

Virginia Tech’s defense ranked 20th overall in FBS, but the rushing defense was 51st. The Hokies tended to give up some long runs last season, and three regulars on the defensive line are gone.

But defensive ends Powell-Ryland and Duke transfer Aeneas Peebles will hope to lead the effort against the run.

Meanwhile, the Hokies figure to make life miserable for opposing quarterbacks.  Powell-Ryland had 15 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks last fall, among the best in the ACC in each category. Defensive backs Dorian Strong and Keonta Jenkins were key parts of a 2023 pass defense that was among the nation’s best.

The offense looks solid, with nearly everybody back.

Even the schedule is manageable, as the Hokies won’t face ACC powers Florida State, N.C. State and SMU during the regular season.

“We have guys who spurned going to the NFL or who spurned opportunities to maybe make more money somewhere else,” Pry said. “That speaks volumes about the culture in our locker room right now.”

“There’s one constant I’ve learned,” Beekman said. “I’ve learned to wait my turn.”

Beekman, a 6-3 senior guard and a preseason first-team All-ACC selection, had a chance to turn pro after last season. He attended the NBA draft combine, then decided to return to Charlottesville.

“When I was in high school, I had to wait my turn,” he said. “In college, I had to wait my turn. It’s the same thing with the NBA.”

Beekman, named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, leads a Cavaliers team that is considered to be in the league’s upper tier — along with Duke, Miami and North Carolina — this season.

The Cavaliers open the season Monday night, hosting Tarleton State of Texas at 7 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

Beekman said the NBA draft combine experience will make him a better player, and his coach agrees.

“When you’re there,” coach Tony Bennett said of the combine, “you’ve really got to lace ‘em up. It makes you a better player.”

Beekman said pro scouts liked a lot about his game but suggested he work on creating his own shot and being more efficient from mid-range.

“Overall, it’s a matter of being steady with my offensive game,” said Beekman, who averaged 9.5 points per game and led UVA in assists in 19 of his team’s 33 games. “People thought another year would help with that.”

But Beekman sees another key role for himself this season.

The Cavaliers’ roster has a number of new faces, and Beekman has embraced being a leader.

“In the offseason, I worked at getting everyone together, on and off the court,” he said. “I think we started on that in the summer.”

The Cavaliers played softball, watched movies together. They went on a whitewater rafting trip.

“We did a lot of hanging out,” said starting wing Ryan Dunn.

Once practice began, Beekman helped the new players learn Bennett’s trademark defense.

“It was rough at first with the new guys,” he said. “We worked a lot on that. But it’s getting better.”

Beekman said the version of Virginia basketball that fans see in early and mid-November will change as the season progresses.

“It all won’t happen instantly,” he said. “It’s something that will come with time.”

Dunn said Beekman’s presence on the floor is a big lift.

“Just having him out there helps a lot,” Dunn said. “We talked a lot in the summer, and he’s helped me. When he’s on the floor, I feel more confident.”

Beekman said the Cavaliers are built for a big season.

“I feel like we have all the right pieces,” he said. “Everybody has to be bought in with that. And I feel like if that happens, we can go a long way.”

“He has a way of speaking to the younger players,” Bennett added. “They listen to what he says.”

Of course, it was more than the mid-range shot and being a leader that brought Beekman back to Charlottesville for another year.

“Well, I definitely want to get my degree,” said Beekman, who is majoring in American Studies. “That’s important to the whole family.”

And there is the Furman game.

Virginia’s NCAA run ended abruptly when the Cavaliers were upset by the Paladins 68-67. UVA led 67-65 in the closing seconds, but a bad pass ended up in the hands of Furman’s J.P. Pegues, who made a 3-pointer.

Beekman narrowly missed winning it, as his last-second shot rolled off the rim.

“I haven’t won a game there,” he said of the NCAA Tournament. “I want the feeling of going as far as we can.”

He said the loss was a learning experience.

“It was a reminder that the little things matter,” he said. “We’ll use that game for inspiration.”

And all that, he said, is merely a product of how he grew up.

“I was one of nine kids,” said Pedulla, a 6-foot-1 sophomore who is expected to be in the starting lineup Monday night when the Hokies open their season at home against Coppin State at 8 p.m.

So how did being No. 7 among nine children, five boys and four girls, make Pedulla the person he is today?

“Actually, it made me who I am,” he said.

Pedulla, who grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma, said being in a big family taught him to battle for what he wanted.

At the recent ACC Media Days in Charlotte, a reporter asked Pedulla how he developed the swagger that teammates say he has.

“Probably from beating up my brothers in the driveway,” he said with a smile. “With a lot of siblings, you develop swagger.”

But the talking thing? That came later.

“Growing up, I was usually in the corner, shooting baskets with my little goal,” he said. “I flew under the radar. I had very little pull in my family.”

By the time he started playing AAU and high school ball, coaches were telling him to speak up more.

“My coaches really pushed me on that,” he said. “In my family, I got talked over a lot. So I stayed quiet. I had to learn to speak up for myself.”

By the time he reached his senior year at Edmond Memorial High, Pedulla was ranked among the top prep players in Oklahoma — and was considered a take-charge guy.

Pedulla said he hasn’t really changed, despite what people see on the court.

“Most people think I’m an outgoing vocal guy,” he said. “But I’m really pretty introverted. Off the court, I’m quiet.”

However, he said the aggressive, competitive nature of his game is accurate.

“Being aggressive is what makes me me,” he said. “Taking that away would change who I am.”

Teammate Hunter Cattoor said Pedulla “comes to practice and battles hard every day.”

Perhaps being in competition with siblings is what helped Pedulla wait patiently for his chance. He didn’t start any of the Hokies’ 36 games in his first year, then started all 34 last season.

“Once you do have that opportunity, you’ve got to make the most of it,” he said. “And last year, I felt like I did a decent job, for the most part.”

Coach Mike Young credits Pedulla with being a savvy playmaker and a tough defender. He also was the team’s No. 2 scorer last season, averaging 15 points a game. He scored in double figures in 31 of the Hokies’ 34 games, with a high of 25 points March 4 against Florida State.

“Being a point guard can be tough,” Pedulla said. “You have to figure out a balance between scoring and playmaking.”

He said Young has been very supportive.

“He wants me to be who I am,” Pedulla said of the Hokies’ coach.

Young said Pedulla is “sharp, he’s tough, and he’s worked hard.”

“He’s grown into a leader,” Cattoor added. “It’s absolutely awesome to see the growth Sean has made.”

The Hokies had a big run two years ago, capturing the ACC Tournament as an outsider. Last year, a 19-15 record (8-12 in the conference) was a disappointment, Pedulla said.

“We just didn’t get the job done, especially defensively,” he said. “Two years ago, we played really well on defense. We’ve got to return to how we played two years ago.”

Pedulla has plenty of people in his corner and an even bigger rooting section with his family.

“The thing about a big family is you have people supporting you,” he said. “I know my family supports me. Like I said, growing up in a family like mine has made me the person I am today.”

But the news deprived Young of that pleasure Wednesday.

The first question — and a healthy portion of the other questions posed to Young on ACC basketball media day — surrounded the abrupt departure of sophomore point guard Rodney Rice just 24 hours earlier.

How will the Hokies fare without Rice, who had been expected to start or play a sixth-man role this season?

“Fine … fine,” Young said. “We have quality of depth. Nothing has changed. We can play as many as six in the backcourt.”

Virginia Tech announced Tuesday that Rice had decided to step away from the program. No reason was given.

“The decision to leave was the best for him,” Hunter Cattoor, a senior starting guard and the most experienced player on the Virginia Tech roster, said of Rice. “We support him. But we try not to make it a bigger deal than it is.”

Added Young, “We have more than enough depth and talent in that (locker) room to win.”

To be sure, the Hokies have plenty of backcourt talent and enough newcomers in the frontcourt to give fans hope of repeating the 2021-22 season, when Virginia Tech rode to a surprising ACC Tournament championship.

“I like the people we have this season,” Young said.

Cattoor was a first-team All-ACC Tournament selection last season. He averaged 10.8 points a game, is No. 5 all-time in 3-point field goals at Virginia Tech and is likely to break the school record this season.

Another backcourt returnee is 6-1 junior Sean Pedulla, who averaged 15 points a contest and scored in double figures 31 times.

The newcomers include a pair of graduate transfers — 6-9 center Robbie Beran from Northwestern and 6-7 Mekhi Long, who averaged 10.7 points and 8.7 rebounds last year at Old Dominion.

“I like the players in our frontcourt,” Young said, “but we’re still coming together.”

He said 7-foot center Patrick Wessler, a redshirt freshman, “has made great progress.”

“His core strength is better, and he’s rebounding outside his immediate area,” Young said.

What will it take?: Virginia Tech got off to an 11-1 start, but Cattoor suffered a broken bone in his left elbow in a Dec. 21 game at Boston College. The Hokies lost that game and the next seven.  They scrambled to stay above .500 for the rest of the season.

“We have to be more efficient offensively,” Young said when asked what it would take for his team to win another ACC crown. “And we need more physicality. We also have to take care of the November and December schedule because it really gets tough after that, when we’re playing an ACC team every game.”

Pedulla pointed to defense as a problem last year.

“We just didn’t get the job done, especially defensively,” he said. “My freshman year, we played well in most aspects of the game. We’ve got to get back to that.”

Two other players to watch are sophomore M.J. Collins and freshman Brandon Rechsteiner, both guards.

Young said he was forced by injuries and other factors to play Collins much more than he intended last season.

“I thought he handled himself very well,” Young said. “He played 28, 32, 36 minutes in some games. I know that every rep this kid gets will help him later in his career.”

Young said he has challenged Collins to improve his defense and perimeter shooting.

“He is working hard on that,” he said.

Rechsteiner was an all-state player in his junior and senior high school seasons in Georgia. He got the seal of approval from Pedulla.

“You’ll see how good of a shooter he is,” Pedulla said. “And his competitive nature gives me flashbacks to my freshman year. He is really competitive.”

After dealing with various versions of the what-happened-to-Rodney-Rice situation, Young was asked what Hokie fans can expect from their team this season.

“I would think fans will appreciate a unit that has great teamwork, good passing, a low number of turnovers, a high number of assists and a stingy defense,” he said. “There’s a lot to like about this team.”

“Everyone has got their ways, but I think the way we’ve done it still has a chance,” Bennett said Wednesday at the annual ACC basketball media day.

Bennett’s teams typically are experienced and focused on defense. That might seem to run counter to the new world of college basketball, with players moving from school to school in the transfer portal and trying to cash in with name, image and likeness deals.

“It’s like a big experiment,” added Bennett, whose team went 25-8 last season, but enters the 2023-24 campaign with an atypically large number of new faces. “Yeah, you’ll lose some guys. But you’ve got to try and keep the core together. Those that do will be better in the long run.”

Although the official ACC preseason poll won’t be released for several days, most predictions have Virginia finishing third behind Duke and Miami.

If so, the Cavaliers will do it with a mix of experienced players and newcomers.

Gone are 2022-23 standouts including Armaan Franklin, Kihei Clark, Jayden Gardner and Kadin Shedrick.

The most familiar face is 6-3 senior guard Reece Beekman, who averaged 9.5 points last season and led the team in assists in 19 of 33 games.

Also back is 6-7 sophomore guard Ryan Dunn, who finished 11th in the ACC in blocked shots last season. Dunn averaged only 2.6 points a game, but is expected to play a much bigger role offensively this season.

Many NBA scouting analysts see Beekman and Dunn as potential first-round picks next June.

The impact of the transfer portal will be obvious in the Virginia lineup this season.

Experienced newcomers: Newcomers expected to play major roles are forwards Jordan Minor (from Merrimack) and Jacob Groves (Oklahoma) and guards Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas) and Dante Harris (Georgetown).

All four could be starters this season.

Harris got a lot of mention at Wednesday’s media sessions. He averaged 11.9 points a game for the Hoyas and is known as a player who enjoys attacking the basket.

“Dante is one of the quickest on-ball defenders that I’ve ever coached,” said Bennett, 54, entering his 18th season as head coach, all but three of those at Virginia. “Dante brings a level of quickness and toughness on the ball that’s certainly helpful for us.”

Add it up, and you get a lineup loaded with talent.

But can they play Virginia basketball — solid defense, few mistakes, working together?

“What we are now is not what we’ll be at the end of the season,” said Bennett, who also said he’s had a few practices that tested his patience.

“You’ve got to be stubborn as a coach. You’ve got to work at it every day.”

Beekman said he has tried to take a leadership role with the new players.

“I think we really started working together in the summer,” he said. “We’ve been working hard to get the system down. It won’t happen instantly. It’s something that will come with time.”

Bennett said regardless of how coaches and fans feel about the new world of college basketball, everyone must accept it.

“You can’t stick your head in the sand and say, ‘This is how it was always done,’ ” he said. “You adjust. You make some changes.

“But you still hold dear and hold true to what matters to you and your program — and you find the guys who will buy into it.”

Another new face: Someone who Bennett referred to as “one of our biggest recruits” will be on the Virginia bench this year. And he won’t exactly be a new face.

Ron Sanchez, an assistant under Bennett for several years, is back in that role after a five-year stint as head coach at UNC Charlotte. Sanchez was let go by the 49ers after last season and took his old role of associate head coach in Charlottesville during the summer.

“I really put on the sales pitch with him,” Bennett said. “He helped build this, from the beginning.”

“I’ll be a lot better assistant coach now that I’ve been a head coach,” Bennett said Sanchez told him.

The Cavaliers open the regular season Nov. 6 at home against Tarleton State.

“We learned about each other,” Gardner, a 6-foot-6 forward, said during preseason. “We grew closer. Going to Italy, playing those games, having 10 extra practices … it put us ahead of the curve.”

As the Cavaliers enjoyed a break this week, Gardner’s preseason thoughts look prophetic. Unbeaten UVA (8-0) has risen to No. 2 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, sits 13th nationally in scoring defense while allowing only 57.9 points per game.

The Cavaliers have had this week to prepare for No. 5 Houston (9-1) — coming off a loss to Alabama that spoiled a possible No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup Saturday in Charlottesville. The Cougars, ranked No. 1 last week, visit UVA at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Virginia, which has wins over Baylor (now No. 11) and Illinois (No. 18), is coming off a 55-50 hard-fought victory over JMU on Dec. 6. Houston dominated UVA 67-47 last season.

“We’ve been taking these games one game at a time,” Gardner said after the win against the Dukes. “JMU, we lost to them last year, so it was good to get the win this year. But now the next opponent is Houston, and we owe them one, and they’re coming here. So I think it’s gonna be a big, giant atmosphere. I know the young guys haven’t experienced what it’s like to play Houston, but they’re very tough and physical and we have a long time to prepare for them.”

Gardner is part of an experienced group of returning players from last season, along with guards Reece Beekman, Kihei Clark and Arman Franklin and post players Francisco Caffaro and Kadin Shedrick. Ben Vander Plas, a graduate transfer from Ohio University, has played key minutes, as have freshmen Isaac McKneely and Ryan Dunn.

Gardner was a second-team selection on the preseason All-ACC team after he averaged 15.3 points and 6.4 rebounds a game last season. Gardner said the Cavaliers, who finished 21-14 and sixth in the ACC, got themselves in trouble early in the campaign last year and suggested Virginia might have looked past some of its early-season opponents. He said he and his teammates are “taking it very seriously this year.”

“We battle every day in practice,” he said before this season. “It starts with hard work, and we seniors are trying to lead the way.”

During that trip to Italy, the Cavaliers got 10 extra practices and spent a lot of time touring Rome, Florence, and the Tuscany region. They also played four games, including two against Serbian professional team Mega MIS.

“Taking that trip to Italy gave us a head start,” Gardner said.

Gardner and Clark lead the team at 11.6 points per game and Gardner averages a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per game. He’s part of balanced offense that features five players averaging at least nine points: Franklin (11 ppg), Beekman (11 ppg) and Shedrick (9.1). Beekman missed most of the JMU game with a leg injury, but Bennett was hopeful he could use this week to heal.

“Our guys, they’re all unselfish,” Bennett said after the victory against JMU. “They really are. We don’t have greedy guys.

“This is an ‘Us’ or a ‘We’ team if I’ve ever had one.”

The Cavaliers had a capable replacement at point guard in Reece Beekman and an outstanding recruit at the position in Isaac McKneely, last year’s West Virginia prep Player of the Year.

And the consensus among scouts was that Clark would find a place somewhere in the professional basketball world.

The answer: Clark simply wasn’t ready.

“I still have work to do,” he said during the preseason. “I need to better prepare myself for a career as a professional.”

And there’s more.

“Last year wasn’t the way we wanted to finish,” he said.

Virginia went 21-14 and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013.

All five of last year’s starters are back, and the returners have been joined by an outstanding group of freshmen. There is a feeling that big things could be ahead for this Virginia team.

The Cavaliers opened the season Monday with a victory over North Carolina Central and host Monmouth at 9 p.m. Friday.

Clark was on the floor nearly all the time last year, as coach Tony Bennett depended on him for playmaking and defense. Clark averaged 36 minutes, 10.9 points and 4.4 assists per game.

This year, there will be more depth.

“It feels different this year,” Clark said. “It feels more like a well-oiled machine. We have more depth. We have guys who can step in.”

Clark added he isn’t dwelling on last season.

“It was a little bit of a disappointment,” he said. “We feel like we let a lot of people down.”

That’s all he’ll say about the 2021-22 campaign. He is focused on 2022-23 and beyond. For starters, there are personal goals.

“I want to improve my shooting percentage and take better care of the ball,” he said.

Clark shot about 39% from the floor last season, down from nearly 42% a year before. Some analysts have suggested he might have been showing the effects of trying to do a lot on a team without much depth.

Clark spent a lot of time in the offseason working on his shot and ballhandling.

“I feel good about where I am,” he said. “The important thing is to be consistent.”

Bennett said Clark will play another important role with the 2022-23 team — leadership.

“Kihei and I have been together forever, right?” Bennett said with a laugh. “That’s a good thing.

“Experience is golden in college basketball. The really good teams are usually the experienced teams.”

This is Clark’s fifth season with the Cavaliers, and there’s a good chance he’ll finish as the program’s career leader for starts and minutes played.

“You can’t teach experience, right?” Clark said. “Being able to have the experience and show the young guys what it takes to get there … that’s really important.”

As for his goals, it’s not difficult to guess how Clark would like to finish. He said he’d be happy with a repeat of 2019, when he played a key role in Virginia’s run to the NCAA championship.

“Getting back to the [NCAA] Tournament — that’s everyone’s goal,” he said. “But I’d like us to win the ACC Tournament too. That would be a good way to finish.”

He’s only 23, but it seems like Mutts is looking for new worlds to conquer.

He was a basketball standout at Delaware, but wanted something a bit bigger, so he transferred to Virginia Tech before last season.

He has master’s degrees — yes, multiple master’s degrees — in agriculture and life sciences and in educational psychology.

He’s likely to hear his named called next summer in the NBA draft.

But he’s looking for more.

“I’m 23,” he said during preseason, his voice making it sound as if he’s getting AARP invitations in the mail. “I can’t afford to waste any days. I feel a sense of urgency.”

As Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said of Mutts, “He’s not a guy to rest on his laurels.”

Many of college basketball’s biggest stars spend two semesters on a campus and head for the pros. Mutts, with his bachelor’s and two master’s degrees, is looking for more. He’s on track to get a second bachelor’s, in human development.

It’s like that on the basketball court, too.

A 6-foot-7 forward from Millville, New Jersey, Mutts averaged 10.1 points, 4 rebounds and a team-high 3.4 assists per game last season. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Hokies’ ACC Tournament quarterfinal victory over Notre Dame, but most of the time, he was consistently near his season averages.

He wants to do more this season, and he’ll make his season debut Thursday night against Lehigh in Blacksburg. Mutts sat out the Hokies’ season-opening win against Delaware State on Monday while serving a one-game suspension for participating in an uncertified event while exploring the possibility of turning pro in the offseason.

Teammate Hunter Cattoor, the other key returnee from the Hokies’ team that surprised college basketball by winning the program’s first ACC Tournament title last March as a seventh seed, said there’s something special about Mutts.

“He sees things on the floor that many players don’t see,” Cattoor said. “He has a special gift for that.”

Mutts started his college career at High Point, where he made the Big South Conference’s All-Freshman team. Then he moved to Delaware, where he averaged 12.2 points and 8.4 rebounds.

But after that 2019-20 season, Mutts found himself looking for a new world to conquer.

“I wanted a change,” he said. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”

Mutts put his name in the transfer portal in April 2020 during the pandemic.

“Within 10 minutes, people were contacting me,” he said.

He received interest from Mississippi State and Houston in addition to the Hokies. After a visit to Blacksburg, he was sold on the school, its coach and the community.

“Blacksburg has a certain love, an energy to it,” he said. “I really enjoy the atmosphere.”

Mutts thrived in the classroom and on the basketball court. Winning the ACC Tournament last season was perhaps the biggest thrill, he said. But Mutts won’t allow himself too much celebration time. After all, there are more worlds to conquer.

“All of that is in the past now,” he said of the ACC Tournament. “I’ve got my ring. I look at it sometimes. But you can’t live in the past.

“This is a whole new team. We’re extremely talented. Our players can do a lot of different things. They’re not one-trick ponies. A lot of these guys can do eight, 10, 12 different things well.”

Not surprisingly, Mutts sees his role as doing whatever is needed of him.

Young has described him as “Dennis Rodman-like in rebounding.” But he also was among the ACC leaders in assists last season.

“He has been remarkable for me,” Young said late last season. “He’s been remarkable for Virginia Tech, this fan base. He is a pillar of what we have put together here in three years.”

But Justyn Mutts hears the clock ticking. There are more worlds to conquer. After their ACC triumph last spring, the Hokies fell to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ll tell you what I’d like to do,” he said. “I’ve never won a game in March Madness. We need to win at least one game for the people of Blacksburg because they deserve it.”

And personal goals for him?

“Simple,” he says. “I just want to be a better person, every day.”

Up next

Lehigh (0-1) at Virginia Tech (1-0)

When: 6 p.m. Thursday

TV: ACC Network

At least one rival coach, Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner, told media members Wednesday at the annual ACC Tip-Off event, that the Cavaliers should be ranked No. 1 in the conference’s preseason poll.

It sounds like life couldn’t get much better in Charlottesville, right?

“Well, you’ve still got to win the games,” Bennett said. “But yes, this team has experience.”

After what Cavaliers starting point guard Kihei Clark calls “a disappointing season,” Virginia seems primed for a big comeback in 2022-23.

The Cavaliers finished 21-14 a year ago, including 12-8 in the ACC for sixth place. They reached the ACC Tournament quarterfinals and the third round of the NIT.

But it was the first time in nine seasons that Virginia missed the NCAA Tournament, and it came just five years after Bennett’s team won the national championship.

“Last year might not have been up to our standards,” Bennett said.

Late in the regular season, Virginia had a 17-16 record and seemed to be struggling to find itself. Bennett said he saw improvement, though.

“We had played some big games, and we were making progress,” he said.

The Cavaliers won eight of their last 12 games, then got in extra practices and game experience by traveling to Italy for two weeks during the summer.

“That Italy trip was a good bonding experience,” Clark said. “It felt like we really jelled.”

The returning starters are Clark (10 points, 4.4 assists a game), power forward Jayden Gardner (15.3 points, 6.4 rebounds), shooting guard Reece Beekman (8.2 points, 5.2 assists), forward Armaan Franklin (11.1 points) and center Kadin Shadrick (6.9 points, 5.1 rebounds).

Five players are gone from last year’s roster. They totaled an average of 7.7 points a contest.

Then you add in the freshmen recruits:

Isaac McNeely, a 6-4 guard, was player of the year in West Virginia and had offers from North Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana and Louisville.

Ryan Dunn, a 6-8 freshman wing, shot 44% from 3-point range and had offers from more than a half-dozen Power 5 schools.

Isaac Traudt, a 6-10 forward, averaged 25 points a game while being named Nebraska’s player of the year.  North Carolina and Gonzaga also pursued him.

Leon Bond III, a 6-5 wing, was the No. 2-ranked player in Wisconsin and had offers from Marquette, Cincinnati and Texas A&M.

Bennett said he is excited about the freshmen.

“You see flashes of ‘Wow, what they can become!’ ” he said. “As they get consistent, they’ll have great careers. They’ll have some first-year struggles, but the older players are doing a good job of helping them.”

Bennett said he expects his team to be strong again defensively, but he also expects more offensive output than last season, when the Cavaliers sometimes seemed to be looking for leaders on that end of the floor.

“This might be the oldest team I’ve had,” Bennett said. “Actually, I think there are a lot of teams with experience in the ACC.  That should make for a good season.”

What might be the best news for Cavaliers fans is what Bennett said about his coaching style and experienced players. He talked about some of his best teams at his coaching stops — as an assistant at Wisconsin and as head coach at Washington State and Virginia — and said experience usually equals success for those squads.

“That has always been the formula,” he said of coaching success.

A special newcomer: There’s one other newcomer on the Virginia roster, and that player means something special to Tony Bennett.

Ben Vander Plas, a 6-8 forward, is a graduate student who played four years at Ohio. He averaged more than 14 points a game and was a third-team all-Mid American Conference selection.

But Vander Plas’ father, Dean, played collegiately with Tony Bennett at Green Bay. That team was coached by Bennett’s father, Ben.

“He (Vander Plas) was named for my father,” Tony Bennett said. “Our families are good friends. What kind of recruiter would I be if I couldn’t land a guy who was named for my dad?”

Virginia schedule

Nov. 7: N.C. Central, 9; Nov. 11: Monmouth, 9; Nov. 14: Northern Iowa, 8; Nov. 18, 20: Continental Tire Main Event, in Las Vegas (vs. Baylor, 7 p.m., on Nov. 18; Nov. 20 TBD); Nov. 25: Md-Eastern Shore, 6; Nov. 29: at Michigan, 9:30.

Dec. 3: Florida State, 2; Dec. 6: James Madison, 6; Dec. 17: Houston, 2; Dec. 20: at Miami, 8:30; Dec. 28: Albany, 6; Dec. 31: at Georgia Tech.

Jan. 3: at Pittsburgh, 9; Jan. 7: Syracuse, 5; Jan. 10: North Carolina, 9; Jan. 14: at Florida State, 4; Jan. 18: Virginia Tech, 7; Jan. 21: at Wake Forest, 2; Jan. 28: Boston College, noon; Jan. 30: at Syracuse, 7.

Feb. 4: at Virginia Tech, noon; Feb. 7: N.C. State, 9; Feb. 11: Duke, 4; Feb. 15: at Louisville, 7; Feb. 18: Notre Dame, noon; Feb. 22: at Boston College, 7; Feb. 25: at North Carolina, 6 or 8; Feb. 28: Clemson, 7.

March 4: Louisville, TBA.

Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle