College football countdown -- 9 days: Virginia poised to honor late teammates

Follow along daily as we count down to a new season Aug. 26.

College football teams sometimes adopt mottos to “theme” their seasons that seem nonsensical or cliched.

Virginia has one that is very much appropriate, though borne from last year’s tragedy: Moving forward, not moving on.

In November, three Cavaliers, Lavel Davis, D’Sean Perry and Devin Chandler, were fatally shot after returning from a class trip to Washington, D.C., and another, Mike Hollins, was wounded. The team chose to cancel its final two games against Coastal Carolina and rival Virginia Tech.

Coach Tony Elliott said in an Associated Press story that moving forward can be done “by the way that we respond, by the way that we play, by the way that they live, by the way they go forward in the future and the individual ways they decided they want to honor the legacies.”

Virginia will open its season Sept. 2 against No. 12 Tennessee in Nashville.

“For me it was just a no-brainer to come back,” defensive end Chico Bennett said in the Associated Press story.

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Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC