Elliott hopes to name starting QB before game week

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Tony Elliott plans on making a decision on the starting quarterback sometime this week so that whoever wins the battle will have a week to prepare as starter for next week’s opener against Richmond.

Elliott’s comments came after Monday’s practice, the last training camp press conference until next Tuesday’s game week presser.

“So today was the last day of true live good-on-good and I’m hopeful that as we get through this week, in fairness to whoever [the starter] is will at least have a week to prep as a starter,” Elliott said. “We’re going to have some tough conversations with all of our personnel over the next couple of days.”

The coach said his staff has been able to push competition at numerous positions and have a good body of work to help make decisions on starting jobs.

One of the battles is for the quarterback job, where fifth-year incumbent starter Tony Muskett is battling sophomore Anthony Colandrea, who shattered UVA freshman passing records last year when Muskett was sidelined by injury.

“I’m hopeful that sometime this week that we should be able to settle in on who is going to be the guy, or if it’s going to be a combination of both of them,” Elliott said. “For those guys, they’ve battled their tails off, they’ve both done a good job. Now, it’s on us as coaches to do the right thing based off of the body of work as we truly evaluate it and what gives us the best chance to win.”

Would Elliott prefer to play both Muskett and Colandrea in the opener against the Spiders, regardless of whether it’s a close game or lopsided?

“That’s to be determined,” Elliott said. “If that’s the way that it shakes out, that’s the way that it shakes out. We’ll have those conversations and see what’s best for the football team.

“I think you’ve got both guys that are very capable, but I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no. Those would be conversations that we’ll have the rest of this week to determine how we need to prep for Richmond.”

Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said both QBs are getting equal reps in practice so that the coaches can continue to evaluate the competition.

Camp Notes

• Former UVA running back Mike Hollins, who was shot twice in the back during the November 2021 shootings that left three of his teammates dead, has returned to the program as a graduate assistant coach. Another graduate assistant is former UVA defensive end Mike Moore, son of legendary Cavaliers quarterback Shawn Moore. Mike Moore has retired from football after a successful career in the Canadian Football League.
• Elliott said that offensive left tackle McKale Boley is no longer wearing a boot, but remained sidelined from Monday’s action.
• Running back Xavier Brown is practicing, but is limited.
• Running back Noah Vaughn was out Monday, wearing a boot.
• Defensive tackle Bryce Carter and wide receiver JR Wilson are both expected to be out a couple of weeks with injuries.

Coming Tuesday: Running back Jack Griese is sneaky good and could see playing time this season.