Virginia shooting survivor Mike Hollins scores two touchdowns vs. James Madison in first home game since school shooting which killed three teammates

Virginia shooting survivor Mike Hollins scored two touchdowns Saturday in his first home game since the fatal shooting that killed three of his teammates on campus.

Hollins was on a school bus returning from a field trip to Washington, D.C. in November when Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry were tragically shot and killed. He was shot in the back, had to undergo several operations and spent a week in hospital before beginning a long rehabilitation.

And in an emotional first game in Charlottesville after the shooting, Hollins made a big impact, running in his first four-yard score in the second quarter.

The running back later found the end zone in the third quarter with a nine-yard rush.

Hollins was the team’s lone representative at the coin toss, and was also the first Cavalier to run out of the tunnel.

The team ran to an end zone painted with the words “UVA STRONG” and the names and numbers of the three fallen. Most knelt in prayer when they got there.

The end zone will remain painted in honor of the three throughout the season. The Cavaliers wore helmet stickers and those wearing jerseys Nos. 1, 15 and 41 — the numbers of the three fallen — had old patches on them. The visiting dukes also wore helmet stickers.

More than two hours before kickoff Saturday, cheering fans lined the path the team took to get to the locker room.

Many later wore the orange ‘UVA STRONG’ T-shirts that were distributed to the first 35,000 fans entering the stadium.

Fans were encouraged to take their seats at 11:30 a.m. for a pregame ceremony, and they cheered loudly as the team emerged from the locker room. The players went through their normal stretching and pregame routine before heading back inside.

The tribute and dedication to three players killed in a shooting last November began Friday with the planting of trees and the installation of a plaque honoring the three, as well as another player and a female student who were injured. The victims were also honored before Saturday’s game with James Madison.

They returned and stood on the back line of the end zone to watch a five-minute video tribute narrated by Samuel L. Jackson that left many fans in tears.

Family member of the shooting victim, Brenda Hollins, left, and Virginia staffer Ambria Thomas, walk toward Scott Stadium before Saturday’s game

Paratroopers then invaded the stadium, three carrying a banner with the shirt number of one of the players and the last with a ‘UVA STRONG’ banner.

Another video highlighting Virginia’s football tradition ended with the display of plaques honoring the three that now hang under the pergola at the open end of the stadium, before introducing the families to the field.

The numbers of the three deaths were revealed on the LED board at the other end of the stadium, where the announcer said they would remain permanently.

A tree planting and a plaque honoring Chandler, Davis Jr. also took place Friday. and Perry, as well as another player and a female student who were injured.

The Cavaliers acknowledged they were emotional when they reconvened for 15 days of practice in the spring, especially when shooting survivor Hollins was in uniform.

Hollins is recovering from a gunshot wound in the hospital after the November shooting

Their first game back was last Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee, where they lost 49-13 to No. 9 Tennessee.

As second-year Virginia coach Tony Elliott has said several times since the killings, there is no playbook, no formula for how a program recovers or for how individual players do.

“You have to compartmentalize and be strategic with the hours of the day and know when to focus on football,” Elliott said this week.

“They also have academics that they have to continue to focus on and then also spend the right amount of time mentally preparing themselves for the emotional rollercoaster they’re going to have late in the week and then also on game day.” And so it’s a delicate balance.”

Saturday’s game ended 36-35 in favor of James Madison.