QB Shaping Up as Position of Strength for Hoos

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On the practice field next to the Hardie Football Operations Center, wide receiver Chris Tyree sprinted past the scout-team secondary and hauled in a long touchdown pass from Anthony Colandrea, providing another glimpse of the sophomore quarterback’s big-play ability.

Monday marked the first time this preseason that Colandrea and fifth-year senior Tony Muskett didn’t split reps with Virginia’s first-team offense in practice. UVA head coach Tony Elliott announced Saturday that Colandrea had won the starting job, and Muskett led the second-team offense Monday.

In the season-opener for both teams, UVA meets Richmond at 6 p.m. Saturday at Scott Stadium. The game will air on ACCNX/ESPN+.

“It was an extremely tough decision,” Elliott said after practice Monday. “It was a heck of a battle, one of the best position battles that I’ve been around in my career. Both young men fought extremely hard, brought their best every single day. It really came down to this fall camp.”

A transfer from Monmouth University, Muskett went into last season as the Wahoos’ No. 1 quarter, but injuries sidelined him for six-plus games. Each quarterback finished the season with six starts.

“When you look at the total body of work, you look at last season, they were very comparable in terms of what they were able to accomplish,” Elliott said.

Colandrea finished the year with UVA single-season freshman records for completions (154), passing yards (1,958) and touchdown passes (13), and he ranked fourth on the team in rushing (225 yards). He twice was named ACC Rookie of the Week and led all Power 5 true freshman quarterbacks in passing yards in 2023.

Muskett, who passed for 1,031 yards and six TDs last year, had offseason shoulder surgery but rehabbed diligently and made a quick recovery. In spring practice, he and Colandrea split time with the first-team offense.

They’re good friends, and their mutual respect has been apparent since Colandrea joined the program last year.

“I’m so proud of both of those guys and how they handled it and then also how they responded to the decision,” Elliott said. “They’ve been very mature, and Tony was awesome. He said he’s gonna do everything he possibly can to help his football team, but also what I know is, we’re gonna need both of them. We’re gonna have to have both of these guys to get to where it is that we want to go.

“We’ll start with AC, let him kind of get his feet underneath himself, but we’re going to need Tony. And it’s his senior year and he wants to contribute, so we’re going to find ways to make sure that he contributes, both on and off the field. Right now we’re going to start with AC and let him go and build some confidence and really evaluate the situation week to week, because again the competition was extremely close.”

Elliott said he met with Colandrea and Muskett together “and just told them how proud I was and how close the competition was. And then after I did that, I met with them individually and just let them know what the decision was.”

Coming out of last season, Elliott said, he challenged both quarterbacks to progress in specific areas, “and I saw improvements from both quarterbacks. The biggest thing for AC was just maturity. We saw him focusing on making the routine play as opposed to trying to get the home run every single play.

“That was the biggest area to improve. And then, naturally, with more reps, he became more confident, and so you started to see his command and his leadership really emerge. So those are the things that I wanted to see from him, because I think we know the talent is there. It was just a function of being able to get in there and do what’s required within the structure of the system in the game.”

Behind Colandrea and Muskett on the depth chart are Gavin Frakes, a transfer from New Mexico State, and Grady Brosterhous, who appeared in six games for Virginia last season.

“You feel good about your numbers, and those guys are making progress too,” Elliott said. “Knock on wood, you don’t want to get down to your third and your fourth [quarterbacks] but we’re very confident in what we’ve got. Those guys have shown improvement as well, and they’re guys that can help us in certain packages.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you see those guys helping us. We need everybody. Everybody’s got to be able to do their job. And then they’ve got an additional role that they can fill, they’ve got to be ready to fill it.”

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