With Tennessee’s season opener against Virginia 11 days away, the Vols finally know which quarterback they’ll be facing when they take the field at Nissan Stadium.
After a quarterback battle throughout fall camp, Virginia coach Tony Elliot named Tony Muskett the Cavs starting quarterback for the 2023 season.
“I thought the quarterbacks battled their tails off and gave us everything that we needed to be able to make a decision,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said Monday. “Coming out of that second scrimmage after evaluating it Tony Muskett will be our starting quarterback.”
Muskett transferred to Virginia from Monmouth earlier this offseason and beat out true freshman Anthony Colandrea and fifth-year senior Jared Rayman.
“(Anthony) Colandrea battled all the way to the end,” Elliott said. “Really excited about the development and the progress that he made but Tony had a great week last week and (I) challenged him to show me some of the true leadership things that I know that he has and he was a lot more vocal. Took a lot more command of it and than played well in the scrimmage.”
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Muskett transferred to Virginia after spending three seasons at Division I-AA school Monmouth including the final two years as the starting quarterback.
In two years as a starter, Muskett’s completed 65% of his passes for 4,648 yards, 42 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Brennan Armstrong was Virginia’s starting quarterback in Elliott’s first season as head coach a season ago, completing 55% of his passes for 2,210 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions before transferring to North Carolina State this offseason.
The Cavaliers are looking to bounce back from a disappointing 3-7 season in Elliott’s first year in Charlottesville.
Tennessee and Virginia open up their 2023 seasons at noon ET on Sept. 2 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. ABC is broadcasting the matchup.
