Source: Muskett, who ‘worked his ass off’ after injury, set as QB1 for Virginia in 2024

I wrote last week that it is my presumption that Tony Muskett will be the starting quarterback when UVA takes the field in its season opener with Richmond on Aug. 31.

That was before the ACC announced the participants in next week’s ACC Football Kickoff, with Muskett being among the three student-athletes who will represent the program at the media event in Charlotte.

And now there’s word getting to me from a source close to the program that Muskett is the clear and unequivocal QB1 going into the 2024 season, and that it’s “not even close.”

Muskett (1,031 yards, 6 TDs, 5 INTs, 63.3% completion rate, 128.8 QB rating in 2023) was the Week 1 starter last season, but was knocked out of the 49-13 loss to Tennessee in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury that ended up being an issue for him all season, forcing him to miss Weeks 2, 3 and 4, and then an ankle injury suffered in the Nov. 4 loss to Georgia Tech put him on the sidelines the rest of the way.

True freshman Anthony Colandrea (1,958 yards, 12 TDs, 9 INTs, 62.6% completion rate, 139.6 QB rating) made six starts in Muskett’s absence, and put up good numbers, and showed growth from his first three-game stint as the starter through to the end of the season.

It was related to me that the reason Muskett has emerged as the clear QB1 is because “he has worked his ass off” since being cleared medically following offseason shoulder surgery.

This would be the best of the possible scenarios for coach Tony Elliott heading into the 2024 season. Elliott didn’t end up naming a starter at QB until the final practice of training camp, and that indecision seemed to cast a pall on the QB situation as Muskett dealt with his injuries throughout the 2023 season.

The benefit of how 2023 played out going into the 2024 season is that Colandrea, the backup, has significant experience to pull from if his number is called again.

It’s also a big help that Elliott was able to land a QB with FBS starting experience from the transfer portal, Gavin Frakes, who started five games as a freshman at New Mexico State in 2022 before transferring in in the offseason.

A clear pecking order – Muskett at 1, Colandrea at 2, Frakes at 3 – will serve the team well for 2024, with the younger guys developing to compete for the starting job next spring.