The Virginia Cavaliers football program will enter the 2022 season under a revamped staff with Tony Elliot as their head coach.
But Virginia fans won’t have to wait until the fall to know who’s going to be on Elliot’s staff. He’ll spend the first weeks of the new year filling the open positions with targets in mind.
According to a new report, Virginia is “targeting” Atlanta Falcons running backs coach Des Kitchings for the Cavaliers’ offensive coordinator position, per ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.
Kitchings is no stranger to the ACC as he coached at North Carolina State from 2012 to 2019.
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Kitchings’ Resume
The Falcons hired Kitchings to be the running backs coach under first-year head coach Arthur Smith. He came to Atlanta after spending the 2020 season in the same role at the University of South Carolina.
Prior to joining the Gamecocks, Kitchings spent eight seasons at NC State coaching the running backs where he produced three consecutive 1,000-yard rushers (2016 to 2018).
Kitchings was an athlete himself and played wide receiver/return specialist at Furman University where he averaged 29.3 yards per kick and set a school record of four kick returns for touchdowns. In 2000, he was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs but never played a regular-season game as he bounced around from practice squad to practice squad for four years.
Elliot will have to wait for Kitchings to finish the 2021 season to make anything official, but it will be interesting to see if Kitchings leaves the NFL to go back to coaching college.
The Falcons rushing attack has been on a milk carton for quite some time, including this season. Heading into Week 17, the Falcons have accumulated just 1,293 yards (86.2 yards per game) on the ground which put them 31st across the league, only ahead of the Houston Texans.
Falcons Still Have a Small Chance at Playoffs
The Falcons (7-8), enter Week 17 with a small chance at a Wild Card run, but there’s still a chance. They face the Buffalo Bills first and top off the regular season against the New Orleans Saints, who they already beat earlier this season.
The Saints play on Monday Night Football with backup quarterback Ian Book getting his first career start against the Miami Dolphins. The Falcons will need the Saints to lose this one in order to jump up to No. 2 spot in the NFC South below the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
From there, they’ll need to beat the 9-6 Buffalo Bills, who are also on the hunt for an AFC playoff spot, on the road. The positive side is that Atlanta has played much better on the road, only winning one game at home in Week 16 against the Detroit Lions. Then they’ll need to top off the season with one last win over the Saints.
But that’s not all. Atlanta also needs the Eagles, 49ers and Vikings to lose too. And then, they might have a playoff appearance.
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