After Successful Baseball Season, Jay Woolfolk Getting Reacclimated at Football Camp

Checking in with UVA's dual-sport quarterback and pitcher Jay Woolfolk

After a successful spring with the UVA baseball team, Jay Woolfolk is refocusing on his quarterback skills during Virginia football fall camp :: Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

On April 23rd, while the Virginia football team was having its spring game at Scott Stadium, Jay Woolfolk was a mile down the road at Disharoon Park with the UVA baseball team as the Cavaliers beat North Carolina in thrilling walk-off fashion. 

That was the case for most of the spring and into the beginning of the summer for Jay Woolfolk. While Tony Elliott and the new coaching staff began to lay the foundation for a new era of UVA football, Jay Woolfolk was across town serving as a key piece of the Virginia bullpen. 

As a first year, Woolfolk took on a challenge that not many student-athletes even attempt in their entire collegiate careers. The feat of playing two sports is even more rare and impressive considering Woolfolk did so in two major programs at a Power Five school. The Chesterfield, Virginia native completed the challenge and did so in unprecedented fashion. 

Last fall, Woolfolk became the first true freshman to start a game at quarterback at UVA since Bryan Shumock in 1977. With Brennan Armstrong injured and Virginia set to host a top ten Notre Dame team, Woolfolk started and performed admirably, completing 18 of 33 passes for 196 passing yards, the most ever by a true freshman starting quarterback in UVA program history. Unfortunately, the Virginia offense could not finish its drives and fell to the Fighting Irish 28-3. 

After appearing in five games as Virginia's backup quarterback, Woolfolk turned his attention away from the gridiron and towards the diamond. 

Woolfolk proved himself as a reliable arm for Brian O'Connor early in the season and he ended up tied for the team-lead with 28 appearances out of the bullpen for the Cavaliers. In 37.2 innings pitched, Woolfolk struck out 55 batters, recorded a 2.87 ERA, and posted a 3-0 record. Collegiate Baseball selected Woolfolk as a Freshman All-American and the UVA athletic department voted Woolfolk as the Male Rookie of the Year at the Hoos Choice Awards. 

This summer, UVA had Jay Woolfolk recreate the iconic Bo Jackson picture, posing in football pads with a baseball bat.

Now, as he enters his second year at UVA, Woolfolk is refocusing back on football and feeling good so far through the first week of fall camp.

"It's been good. I've obviously still got things to work on, things to improve and get better at," Woolfolk said after practice on Wednesday. "But I love the intensity that Coach Elliott brings. He gets on me a lot, which I actually love. I love feedback and I'm thankful that he came in and is doing that. Coach [Taylor] Lamb is the same way."

Throughout the spring, Woolfolk kept in fairly constant contact with Tony Elliott and Virginia quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb, who made sure to keep Woolfolk updated on the plays the quarterbacks were working through during practice. 

"We talked a pretty good amount," Woolfolk said. "Coach Elliott told me, "get out there when you can. If you can't, it's okay." And that was the biggest thing for me, he didn't force me to be out there. Coach Lamb didn't force me to be out there... Coach Lamb was sending me all the plays that they went through that day and studying it every day. Obviously, you gotta come out here and do it and execute it. But it was great to see they still cared about me even when I'm not there."

With just a few weeks remaining until the season kicks off, Woolfolk is doing his best to make up for lost time as he looks to secure the backup spot on the UVA quarterback depth chart behind Brennan Armstrong. 

When asked if he will continue to play football and baseball at Virginia, Woolfolk said, "That's gonna be the plan until I physically can't do both of them anymore."

Watch the following video for our full post-practice interview with Jay Woolfolk:

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