Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
Five Players Who Shined in the Virginia Football Spring Game
The Virginia football team returned to Scott Stadium on Saturday to play a game in front of fans in the stands for the first time since before the tragedy of November 13th. With the names of Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D'Sean Perry on their hearts and minds, the Cavaliers set their sights on a new season with the goal of, in the words of Tony Elliott, "turning tragedy into triumph."
In college football, spring games provide the one and only opportunity of the year for nearly every player on a team's roster to have a chance to see the field and prove himself in a live game situation. That was the case on Saturday, as several Cavaliers made a name for themselves with standout performances. Here's our pick for the five players who impressed the most with their play during the Virginia football spring game:
Anthony Colandrea
There's no question that quarterback is the most important position on the field in football and given that, it's equally undoubtable that the player UVA fans were most looking forward to seeing in the spring game on Saturday was Monmouth transfer Tony Muskett, the frontrunner to be Virginia's starting quarterback next fall. Muskett was solid and looked remarkably comfortable in his first appearance in a UVA uniform at Scott Stadium despite arriving on Grounds just a few short months ago, but it was the young gun Anthony Colandrea who ended up stealing the show.
Colandrea should be finishing the final couple of months of his senior year of high school in Florida right now, but instead he enrolled at UVA in January. But you would never have guessed that solely based on his performance on Saturday. With Jay Woolfolk not participating in the spring game to preserve his availability for the Virginia baseball team this weekend, Colandrea got the start at quarterback for the Blue team and completed 18 of his 29 passing attempts for 218 yards and a touchdown. The Virginia coaching staff has talked about Colandrea's moxie throughout the spring and it showed on Saturday. Colandrea showcased his athleticism and escapability to extend plays outside the pocket, improvised and made accurate throws on the run, and most impressivley, looked poised beyond his years operating an offense at the collegiate level. While his most flashy plays came when he scrambled away from pressure, his best throw of the day was a perfect pocket pass to thread the needle to fellow freshman Jaden Gibson on a slant pattern for a touchdown:
With his team trailing by eight in the final minutes of the game, Colandrea led an impressive drive down the field and got the ball down inside the five-yard line with a chance to tie the game. Instead, the White team's defense made a huge play as Addie Burrow tipped Colandrea's pass as it left his hand and John Hurley snagged the ball out of the air, taking it the distance for a game-sealing pick-six. Still, the UVA fans in attendance were treated to that dramatic ending in large part due to Colandrea's playmaking abilities that kept the Blue team in the game down to the wire. Tony Muskett will likely be the Virginia starter this season, but with the performance Anthony Colandrea delivered in the spring game, it's going to be hard to keep him off the field for long and his future as the UVA quarterback is extremely bright.
Trey McDonald
The best performance on the defensive side of the ball arguably came from rising sophomore linebacker Trey McDonald, who led all defenders with 10 tackles and seemed to be all over the field throughout the spring game. McDonald has put in significant work in the weight room and looks very strong at 6'3", 217 pounds, while still having the speed to cover ground quickly from the linebacker position. After appearing in three games in his true freshman season in 2022, expect Trey McDonald to be a breakout star in the middle of the Virginia defense, especially as the Cavaliers look to replace the production of Nick Jackson in the linebacker unit.
Jack Griese
Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings remarked last week that the UVA running back unit was perhaps the deepest he has ever coached with Perris Jones, Mike Hollins, Cody Brown, Xavier Brown, and Kobe Pace constantly raising the level of competition in practice. But who had the most impressive rushing performance of the spring game? That would be preferred walk-on Jack Griese, the grandson of Hall of Fame NFL quarterback Bob Griese. A rising sophomore from Chantilly, Virginia, Griese made the most of his chances in the spring game and rumbled for 90 yards on 12 carries and found the end zone twice for a pair of touchdowns, looking even bigger than his 6'0", 224-pound frame as he ran through tackles and almost always required multiple defenders to bring him down. His size and strength stood out the most, but on Griese's best run of the day, he showed speed, vision, and elusiveness as he found a hole and sprinted untouched into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. The offensive line also deserves a shoutout for making this run possible. Big blocks from Ugonna Nnanna and Ty Furnish in particular opened the lane for Griese to run through.
While it may be difficult for Griese to move up the depth chart in a crowded and talented Virginia running back room, Des Kitchings said after the game that the Cavaliers could benefit greatly from finding ways to get Griese on the field.
JR Wilson
This is a major transitional period for Virginia's wide receiver unit. Not only are most of the familiar names from the last few seasons gone, but this group has new quarterbacks throwing to them and a new coach leading them, as Adam Mims replaces Marques Hagans. UVA needs someone to step up into the spot as the new top wide receiver and JR Wilson should be one of the top candidates to do so. When the Cavaliers found themselves without their three top receivers for the North Carolina game last season, the UVA offense actually produced its best performance of the year thanks in large part to a strong showing from JR Wilson, who had five catches for 61 yards in that game.
A 6'4" sophomore from Brooklyn, Wilson looks ready to take on a big role in his second year at Virginia. In the spring game on Saturday, Wilson caught four passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. A big chunk of that production came on one play and it was perhaps the most electric play of the entire game. Wilson caught the perfectly-placed deep ball from Tony Muskett in stride with Tayvonn Kyle right on his back. Kyle tried to wrap him up from behind, but Wilson showed his strength and shed the tackle, muscling his way into the end zone for an incredible 63-yard touchdown. The Cavaliers might have something special brewing offensively this fall if Tony Muskett and JR Wilson can make that deep-ball connection a frequent occurrence.
Micah Gaffney
Similar to the wide receiver group, the UVA secondary is looking to replace some big holes with the losses of two All-ACC cornerbacks in Anthony Johnson and Fentrell Cypress II. The Cavaliers have several potential playmakers in the defensive back unit, giving defensive passing game coordinator Curome Cox a lot of pieces to work with as he arranges his secondary. Micah Gaffney did his best to throw his name in that mix as well on Saturday, recording five tackles and an interception for the Blue team. A 5'11" junior cornerback from Alabama, Gaffney showed some nice ball instincts and coordination to collect the ball out of the air after the pass from Grady Brosterhous was tipped by William Simpkins III.
Bonus: Mike Hollins
The box score numbers don't jump off the page for Mike Hollins, who totaled 40 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. But here's one number that certainly stands out: 153.
Just 153 days after undergoing multiple life-saving surgeries to survive the tragic shooting on November 13th, Mike Hollins was back on the field in a Virginia uniform at Scott Stadium, getting the carry on the first play of the UVA spring game and eventually, finding the end zone for a touchdown before placing the ball down on the name of D'Sean Perry painted behind the end zone.
On a day filled with emotion as the Cavaliers returned to Scott Stadium for a game for the first time since before the tragedy, no moment was more moving than when Mike Hollins put the finishing touches on his resilient and inspiring journey to recovery with a touchdown and immediately honored his fallen brothers.
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