Tony Elliott explains why his player lost his mind before ejection against Clemson |
Tony Crumpton
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- Saturday, October 19 2024
Virginia veteran defensive end Ben Smiley lost his cool and was ejected in the fourth quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct in Saturday's 48-31 loss to Clemson.
Smiley was pushing and shouting at the Tigers, did a gator tackle, and even pushed away his own teammate, who tried to help him off the field before he got into more trouble. Basically, he was really, really mad, and it was a bad look. Virginia head coach Tony Elliott explained what might have been the reason why Smiley lost it after the play. "It was hard to tell, but I did look at the video, and it looked like maybe as Tristan (Leigh) was trying to get up, he might've stepped on his leg a little bit and then stepped over him," Elliott said. Elliott understands that Smiley's actions post-play was a bad look for the program and doesn't reflect Smiley as a person. "And I think it's just unacceptable for Ben to react that way and talk to him in the locker room. He's very remorseful. He knows that's not truly a reflection of his character. There's nobody in that locker room that wants to win more than Ben Smiley. He's been here for five years, but he understands, and the team understands that we're not going to respond that way. That's not who we are. That's not how we play the game. That's not how I coach the game. And he'll take accountability for it and we'll learn and we're grow and we'll move on." Smiley had eight tackles, including one for loss during the game. "I don't know what really happened," Swinney said about Smiley's scuffle during his post-game press conference.
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