CHARLOTTESVILLE – The competition for Virginia’s starting quarterback job will continue through the summer and preseason camp. That’s not an indictment on the play this spring of either Tony Muskett or Anthony Colandrea, the two front-runners for the job, but rather a decision head coach Tony Elliott made for the benefit of everyone involved.
“Competition breeds success,” Elliott said. “It brings the most out in people.”
Elliott says the focus this spring was for the quarterbacks, both of whom played significant snaps last season, to improve without the pressure of a job competition looming over their heads. Saturday’s Blue-White Game at Scott Stadium was an opportunity for Muskett and Colandrea to show how far they’ve come in their final action of the spring.
Muskett delivered a more impressive performance, tossing two long touchdowns in the first quarter and finishing with 200 yards on 10- of-18 accuracy in leading the White team to a 17-10 victory. Colandrea also played two quarters and completed 15 of 16 passes for 102 yards, including a longest of 28 yards.
“I’ve been pleased with both of their growth in the spring,” Elliott said. “So we have healthy competition and we know we can win with either one of them, and I want to see those guys continue to compete and feed off each other. I think their relationship is continuing to strengthen because now they understand that to be the best, you’ve got to have somebody there to push you.”
The start of the 2024 season is still more than four months away — UVA opens at home against Richmond on Aug. 31 – but both quarterbacks demonstrated the ability to not only lead the offense, but also make plays.
Muskett completed a 56-yard scoring pass to receiver JR Wilson and later delivered a 73-yard strike to wideout Claiborne Richards. Both pass-catchers took advantage of busted coverage, as Wilson ran 40 yards untouched after his lunging grab, and Richards sprinted nearly 50 yards unscathed after his juggling reception in the middle of the field.
Colandrea showed off his elusiveness, proving to be a much more effective running threat. He was unable to break a big one, however, as QB runs were whistled dead on first contact.
The spring game will be a valuable evaluation tool for the coaching staff, but not the end-all, be-all. Spring practice will be only part of the complete picture Elliott and his assistants will consider.
One of the advantages of not making the spring a full audition for the starting job is it gave both Muskett and Colandrea time to fine-tune areas of their games in a less pressurized environment.
“My mindset has just been to compete, do what I can do, do my best and then whatever happens, happens,” said Muskett, a 6-foot-2, 206-pound graduate student.
Muskett, the starter coming out of camp last year, got back up to speed after offseason surgery to repair the shoulder he injured in last season’s opener against Tennessee. He was never 100% after returning, and he eventually shut down for the season because of an ankle injury sustained against Georgia Tech on Nov. 4.
In his six games, Muskett, whom UVA quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb calls “Mr. Fundamental” for his textbook mechanics, led the Cavaliers to two of their three wins. He completed 63.3% of his passes for 1,031 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions.
In the spring, Muskett worked on his decision-making to become more intuitive in and out of the pocket. Virginia’s coaches also expressed a desire for the veteran to become more of a leader this offseason, his second in the program after transferring from Monmouth last year.
Same goes for Colandrea, a sophomore who dazzled at times as Muskett’s understudy last year. The 6-foot, 180-pound playmaker had a penchant for the spectacular, turning busted plays into big gains, but he also had some costly turnovers that the coaching staff would like him to avoid.
He showed progress as the season went on, tossing eight touchdowns and only three interceptions in his final four games, including a home win over Duke. In all, Colandrea completed 62.6% for 1,958 yards, 13 TDs and nine INTs in eight games. He also rushed for 225 yards and was feted with freshman All-American honorable mention by College Football Network.
Colandrea might have proven to his teammates that he has the chops to make big plays at this level, but like Muskett, he wants to earn their respect as a leader as well.
“There’s steps that Colandrea needs to keep taking and Muskett’s got to keep taking to get comfortable in the leadership role,” Lamb said. “It’s a little bit different when you have two guys competing for a job. Which one wants to be the leader? We’ve got to have both those guys, no matter who’s playing. We need both those guys to win games.”
Colandrea took steps in the offseason to build more chemistry within the offensive unit, organizing a group trip to his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, during a break from school for workouts and camaraderie. The group of skill players stayed in a rented house, worked out during the day and hung out the rest of the time.
“The best football teams are always the closest teams, right? So that’s what I was thinking,” Colandrea said. “I was like, all right, I’m going to bring 13 guys down to Florida. We’re all going to stay in the same house. We’re all going to be working out every single day and just building a really good chemistry, a really good bond with everyone.”
That was especially important for a unit that is integrating a cadre of newcomers, including a big group of transfers that includes wide receivers Chris Tyree (from Notre Dame), Andre Greene Jr. (UNC) and Trell Harris (Kent State) and reserve quarterback Gavin Frakes (New Mexico State).
Frakes adds depth to the quarterback room, along with returning players Grady Brosterhous and Devin Sherwood. The three split reps in the second half of the spring game. Frakes completed a 40-yard pass to Greene on his first attempt.
“I think we wanted to find four guys that can go out there and win games at the Power Five level, or Power Four level, however you look at it,” Lamb said. “We wanted Tony and AC to keep getting better in their prospective areas to where we feel really good about those two after spring ball, that we can go win games. And then we had to bring up the depth too below them, bringing up those guys so if anything happens, we’ve got to be ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
Both Muskett and Colandrea won games last year, and the coaches expect both to be instrumental this year.
“I have faith in them, both Muskett and Colandrea,” said Wilson, who caught three passes for 79 yards in the spring game. “They can both do great things, so whoever wins that battle, we’re rolling and rocking with them, but I’m rocking with both of them anyways.”
