Virginia QB Tony Muskett OUT, Anthony Colandrea to Start vs. JMU

With Muskett out with an injured left shoulder, true freshman Anthony Colandrea will make his first collegiate start at quarterback for UVA

Virginia quarterback Tony Muskett has been ruled OUT of Saturday's game against James Madison with a shoulder injury he suffered in last week's loss to Tennessee. Freshman Anthony Colandrea will make his first collegiate start at quarterback for UVA against JMU. 

Muskett was seen on the field warming up over an hour before kickoff, but when the team returned to the field in their pads, Muskett was not warming up with the other quarterbacks and was later seen on the sideline with no pads on. 

Follow along with score updates, play-by-play and live analysis for the game here: Virginia vs. JMU Live Updates | College Football

UVA head coach Tony Elliott reported on Tuesday that Muskett was "day-to-day" and that he felt comfortable making a game-time decision as to who would start at quarterback for the Cavaliers against the Dukes. Elliott also noted that in the event that Muskett couldn't play, the backup for Colandrea would be sophomore Grady Brosterhous from Weddington, North Carolina. 

Muskett fell hard as he took a sack in the fourth quarter against Tennessee and got up holding his left shoulder. Colandrea relieved Muskett and played two full drives and 19 total snaps to close out the game, completing two of his seven passing attempts for 12 yards and rushing twice for 17 yards. 

The Cavaliers are hopeful that the limited experience Colandrea got in that game will help him in this one, as he looks to recreate his impressive play in practices and scrimmages (performances that earned him UVA's backup job) on the field in a real-game environment. 

"As I've said, his confidence level is high, is always high. He has a moxie about him," Tony Elliott said of Colandrea. "I think the challenge will be for us to make sure we put him in the best position to be successful. Still got to go call it to win the game... He is a competitor. He has leadership qualities as a freshman. He's got playmaking ability. The biggest thing for us, if he is the one that runs out there first, is just making sure that we kind of keep him level-headed and calm and collected so that he can go do his job, which is to distribute and manage the system."

Elliott also said that Virginia would spend the week condensing and tailoring the game plan so that it would fit either Muskett or Colandrea at quarterback. UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings agreed with Elliott that the coaching staff and team as a whole has high confidence and trust in Colandrea to step up to the task. 

"High - because he's earned that trust in us from spring through fall camp and every time he's been in the stadium, whether it was a spring game or scrimmages or spring scrimmage or fall camps scrimmage, he has performed," Kitchings said.

Colandrea will be just the second true freshman to start a game at quarterback for Virginia since 1977. Jay Woolfolk started one game as a true freshman against Notre Dame in 2021. 

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