Kitchings says Muskett will start against Terps on Friday

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Unless something unusual happens over the next 48 hours, Tony Muskett will be Virginia’s starting quarterback when the Cavaliers travel to Maryland on Friday night to take on the Big 10 Terps (7 p.m., FoxSports1).

Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings confirmed the starter after Wednesday morning’s practice, but also noted that backup Anthony Colandrea was impressive in Saturday’s narrow 36-35 loss to JMU.

“Yeah, if [Muskett] is ready to go, he’s the guy again,” Kitchings said. “You don’t lose your job for injury, because he’s earned that spot. But what it shows to everybody that we already knew, is we feel like we have two good quarterbacks that can go out and play for us at a high level and help us win.”

Muskett was injured in the fourth quarter of Virginia’s 49-13 loss at Tennessee in the opener, leading to true freshman Colandrea’s start last week against JMU. In that game, Colandrea passed for 377 yards, a UVA freshman single-game record and one of the top 15 passing performances of all time by a Cavalier.

Kitchings liked what he saw in his backup quarterback against the Dukes.

“He handled himself, he was not fazed in the moment, very attuned in that he made some good checks for us in the run game and protections,” the OC said. “The kid has a lot of confidence and savviness to play football.”

Maryland is 2-0, with wins over Towson and Charlotte, and is a 14-point favorite to win the game.

Note: we’ll have more from Kitchings, defensive coordinator John Rudzinski and head coach Tony Elliott coming up later this evening.