Tony Muskett or Anthony Colandrea? How Virginia is Deciding Its QB Battle

Matt Newton | Aug 18, 2024

The battle between Tony Muskett and Anthony Colandrea for Virginia's starting quarterback job continues. / Virginia Athletics

As expected, the spirited competition for the Virginia starting quarterback job is ongoing and unresolved into the final week of fall camp. With Tony Muskett and Anthony Colandrea continuing to make their case for the starting spot ahead of the much-anticipated release of the week 1 depth chart next week, those who have been looking for any clues as to which way Tony Elliott and the UVA coaching staff are leaning have been left largely unsatisfied.

Most of the reports coming out of fall camp, and in particular the words of Elliott and UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings, have emphasized that Muskett and Colandrea are both practicing well as they split first-team reps. In reviewing the team's first scrimmage at Scott Stadium, Elliott said, "I thought both the quarterbacks, they're battling. Both of them made a couple big plays. Still gotta continue to push through the competition and just make the routine plays and not press and not try to win the job on every single play."

Very diplomatic and unrevealing.

And while Des Kitchings kept on message in his press conference, he did elaborate to an extent on the process and methods he and the other coaches are using to evaluate the play of Muskett and Colandrea during camp, starting with how to account for different variables such as playing with starters vs. backups.

"With the history of injury and different rotations, we want them comfortable playing with a guy who might not be a starter, but that could in the starting lineup," said Kitchings. "That’s part of training camp. We have 20 practices. So, we have Tony Muskett have his opportunities with the first-team O-Line and then Colandrea has his opportunities, and then vice versa, they’re working with the second team."

Kitchings also noted that their appraisal of practice performance tries to isolate quarterback performance, eliminating things like drops by a wide receiver from completion percentage.

“Then, we take into account, right, who are the skill players around them? A dropped ball is not something that counts against them and their completion percentage that we’re tracking," Kitchings said. "It’s about the accuracy and the decision-making that goes into it.”

Of course, since neither Muskett nor Colandrea boasted an impressive touchdown-to-interception ratio last season, ball security carries a lot of weight in the evaluation. In addition to keeping proper control of the ball in the pocket, Kitchings said they are rating the relative riskiness of their passes.

“Is he keeping two hands on the ball? Is his eyes down the field and still a threat to run or throw? Or is he still being loose with the ball for a defense to come and get it?" Kitchings said.
“And then it's, is he putting the ball in jeopardy? We want to extend plays, scramble and do all those things, but are we putting the ball in jeopardy down the field? Risk versus reward. Yes, we want some big plays, but let’s be smart with it and as long as we can advance the football and not put it in jeopardy.”

In the 3.0 version of our projected Virginia football depth chart, we still have Tony Muskett slightly ahead of Anthony Colandrea in the race for the starting job, but that's based mostly on the fact that Muskett started every game when he was healthy last season. It's still too close to call as to who Elliott and company will go with when the week 1 depth chart is unveiled next week.

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