By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — When baseball season ends at the University of Virginia and Jay Woolfolk becomes a full-time football player again this summer, Anthony Colandrea may well drop on the depth chart at quarterback.
But with baseball occupying much of Woolfolk’s time for the five past weeks, Colandrea got plenty of work during the Cavaliers’ 15 football practices this spring, the last of which was the annual Blue-White game at Scott Stadium.
A true freshman from St. Petersburg, Fla., Colandrea completed 18 of 29 passes for 218 yards and one touchdown Saturday, with one interception.
“He balled out today,” wide receiver JR Wilson said. “He actually surprised me the plays and throws he made, the shots he took. With his arm talent, there’s no knowing what he could do … He really showed that he’s going to be a great quarterback in the future.”
Colandrea, who’s listed at 6-foot, 182 pounds, is small for an FBS quarterback but has “that ‘it factor,’ ” UVA offensive coordinator Des Kitchings said after the spring game.
The Cavaliers’ head coach agreed. “He’s a ball player,” Tony Elliott said.
Colandrea does not lack confidence, and fans at the Blue-White game got “to kind of see his swagger come out,” Elliott said.
“That’s been me my whole life,” said Colandrea, who starred at Lakewood High School.
Colandrea enrolled at the University in January, as did another quarterback, Tony Muskett. A graduate transfer from Monmouth University, Muskett worked extensively with the first-team offense this spring. Both quarterbacks are football junkies, Kitchings said, and “to have those guys wired that way, as a coach, you love that, because now they become a true extension of you out on the field.”
Colandrea said: “I just want to be a sponge.”
Muskett said Colandrea “reminds me a lot of myself when I first came into college. He’s a fun-loving kid. You can see he can sling it out there. He’s got a ton of arm talent. I love being around him on a daily basis. He makes things fun for me.”
Woolfolk backed up starter Brennan Armstrong in 2021 and ’22, and he’ll compete for the starting job when the Wahoos open training camp in August. But this spring allowed the offensive coaches to get a long look at Muskett, who twice made the All-Big South first team at Monmouth, and he impressed.
“His spring has been really, really good,” Kitchings…