UVA starting QB job is Tony Muskett’s to lose

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The UVA football team will enter this season a little thin at the most important position.

With quarterback Jay Woolfolk choosing to leave the program to focus solely on baseball, a lot is now riding on the arm of Monmouth transfer Tony Muskett.

Cavalier training camp kicked off this week with Muskett the overwhelming favorite to be Virginia’s starting quarterback.

“For me, I can’t take the foot off the pedal,” Muskett said. “Coach Lamb coaches us and says prepare every day like you’re the starter, and everyone in our room does that. There’s no complacency from me.”

Muskett says Wednesday’s first practice was the most excitement he’s been around in four years of college football.

“If there was a play that wasn’t quite how [Muskett] wanted it to be, the next play he was dialed in and responding, and that’s what you want,” Coach Tony Elliott said.

Muskett’s likely biggest competition comes from first-year Anthony Colandrea, who played well in Virginia’s spring game, completing 18-of-29 passes for over 200 yards.

“We need to see him fundamentally get better, get some bad habits out and get some good habits in,” Coach Elliott said. “His ceiling, his high with his talent and his play-making and decision-making.”

There’s lots of optimism within the program, but outsiders have picked the ‘Hoos to finish last in the ACC.

“Me personally, that’s something I’ve been accustomed to my entire life, not being favored. When people doubt you and they don’t believe in you, that’s when a group can truly come together,” Muskett said.

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