Cavaliers ready to give Elliott victory in Clemson return

CHARLOTTE — Chico Bennett, Jr. began his college football career at Georgia Tech. In fact, his first game came at Clemson in 2019, when he recorded four solo tackles as a true freshman.

Bennett spent two total seasons at Georgia Tech before transferring to Virginia in 2021. The following season, he returned to Atlanta for the first time since leaving after the 2020 season.

It was an emotional night for the Cavaliers linebacker, but he made the most of it. In his first game against his former school, he made a career-high seven tackles and recorded his second multi-sack effort of the season en route to ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors.

Virginia won the game 16-9, which meant a lot to Bennett. He now wants to return the favor to his head coach when the Cavaliers visit Clemson on Oct. 19.

Tony Elliott, of course, played at Clemson, and later became the Tigers’ offensive coordinator under Dabo Swinney. He was the architect of Clemson’s offense during its national championship seasons and six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances.

Elliott now returns home and his players want nothing more than a victory for their head coach.

“I can only imagine his excitement, especially when you’ve coached some guys and now you know you’re on the bench. It’s exciting. It’ll be great to give him that win,” Bennett said.

Quarterback Tony Muskett agrees.

“It’s a great environment. They’re a good football team. I have a lot of respect for them,” Muskett said. “We definitely want to get what they deserve, but we also have to focus on our job and get a win.”

Bennett says it will be a fun game. He remembers his first and only experience in Death Valley. He called Death Valley “tight,” although he says he wasn’t afraid of the lights.

“It was so energizing,” he said. “You couldn’t really hear anyone. Even the person right next to you. They were trying to tell you something, but you still couldn’t hear them.”

“It was fun and it will be fun for our other guys to play there. Again, it’s a full circle moment. It was my first year there and now it’s going to be my last year.”

And the only thing that could improve things would be a win for their head coach on his first trip back to his old stomping ground.

“I think to get a win, whatever it is, we’re going to celebrate it. We also understand how hard it is to win football games at the college level and in the ACC,” Elliott said.

“Coming back to Death Valley, as a former player, there’s going to be some emotion before the game. Once the kickoff goes off, I have a responsibility to these young men sitting here and the guys on the traveling team: make sure I get out of this situation and do the best I can to make sure these guys can be successful and have an opportunity to win on the field.”