Virginia football position preview: Quarterback

Tony Muskett insists the drastic change of surrounding won’t alter the way he plays.
Virginia’s new quarterback, an FCS transfer from Monmouth, will take the field in front of the largest crowd he’s ever played in front of when the Hoos open their campaign against Tennessee on Sept. 2 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
The venue holds a capacity of 69,000-plus, or three-and-half times more than the biggest crowd Muskett has experienced in his career. It’s more than likely the masses there will heavily favor the Volunteers’ shade of orange, too.
“It’ll be an adjustment with the fan size, but football is football,” Muskett said, “and fans aren’t between the lines and they can’t have an effect on the play.”
But Kessler Stadium, where Monmouth plays its home games, only holds 4,200 and has seats exclusively on one side of the field — a far different setting than the NFL cathedral UVa kicks its season off in.
Muskett noted while with the Hawks, though, their trek to North Carolina A&T for the Aggies’ homecoming contest put about 20,000 in the stands and made for a great environment. He said former NBA champ J.R. Smith, who plays on A&T’s golf team, was in attendance. Muskett mentioned Villanova’s crowd of about 9,000 last season was the second largest group of spectators he’s seen.
But he said, “I feel like I can play with the best in the country and I can’t wait to go out and prove that.”
UVa quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb said he doesn’t have any worry about Muskett handling the brighter lights and more ruckus places to play. And Lamb understands the stark contrasts between the FCS and FBS, considering he grew up learning the game in the former I-AA at Furman and Mercer, where his father Bobby Lamb had coaching stints for the better part of two decades. Taylor Lamb worked as the offensive coordinator at Gardner-Webb before getting to UVa also, and matched up with Muskett twice.
“He’ll thrive in it,” Lamb said, “and he’s got that mentality, ‘Wherever, whenever, 11 on 11, let’s play ball.’”
The more pressing need for UVa is for Muskett to boost the production of the quarterback spot considering it was a disaster for the Cavaliers a season ago. Former starter Brennan Armstrong’s completion rate was 54.7%, the 10th worst for any qualifying quarterback in the FBS in 2022 and his 7-to-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio was a significant regression from the 31-to-10 mark he logged in 2021.
To be fair to Armstrong, his dip coincided with UVa’s change in offensive philosophy from air raid to the pro-style attack in place now as well as a reshuffling of the offensive line. The O-Line still has its questions entering 2023, but Muskett comes to Charlottesville having played in a very similar system at Monmouth and the coaching staff is hoping his game reps in it will pay dividends this fall for the Hoos.
Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings has already said there is plenty from Monmouth’s offense that translates well to Virginia’s and that Muskett has shown a strong understanding of the scheme and concepts.
“And we always say we’ve got to be a balanced offense,” Lamb said, “and that could mean in this game right here that, ‘We’ve got to be able to throw the ball to win,’ and then there are some games where we’ll have to get the clock moving and run the ball to win, and so whatever it takes to win,” is what UVa will ask of Muskett this season.
“And I think he’s got some versatility,” Lamb added, “where he can make some big-time throws and also protect the football and manage the game. There’s a fine line between both of those, but he’s a winner and he’s been in a winning program that has done similar stuff.”
Said Muskett: “It’s easy as a quarterback to get caught up in the other stuff, but our No. 1 job is to win football games. However we need to do that, whether it’s a 0-0 game in the fourth quarter and you need a field goal to go win the game or it’s 56-56 and you need another touchdown, I just want to win football games.”
Muskett threw for 51 touchdowns over 23 starts with the Hawks. He’s their all-time leader in passing efficiency at 150.14, too, and Lamb said even though Monmouth didn’t ask Muskett to run the football often, he’s capable of doing so.
The Cavaliers noticed those strengths during the spring, according to Lamb, which is what they had scouted in recruiting.
“He was a completion generator and running the show from that sense, so I think expectations matched up,” Lamb said.
Muskett was also fully recovered by spring after he strained ligaments in his knee last November, he said, during a seven-overtime loss to Rhode Island. Muskett threw for 249 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 69 yards in that memorable contest, but missed the last three games of the Hawks’ season. He didn’t need any surgery and probably could’ve returned late in the year, but Monmouth’s coaching staff wasn’t going to rush him back onto the field.
UVa might not have that luxury, though, if anything were to happen to Muskett this fall.
Beyond him, the Cavaliers don’t have another quarterback on the roster who has thrown a pass in college and they’ll likely enter the fall with freshman Anthony Colandrea as their backup, which Lamb said he’s fine with.
Another quarterback on the roster is fifth-year senior Jared Rayman, the team’s holder on field goals.