College Note - Virginia Tony Muskett

Upon his choice to depart FCS Monmouth and test whether or not the transfer portal would yield interest from the top level of the sport, Tony Muskett said he always had a frontrunner in mind. "It was top of my list. It's my home school.

It's my home state," the now-Virginia quarterback said Thursday. Muskett is in the midst of readying for spring practice with the Cavaliers, who he grew up watching and even through his high school days while starring at West Springfield in Northern Virginia would've liked to play for if the circumstances were right. He had the chance to join the Hoos then, too, he said.

According to Muskett, UVa's pursuit of him as a transfer in December wasn't the program's first time courting the quarterback. Former UVa staffer Donte Wilkins - in the Cavaliers' recruiting department then and now the defensive line coach at Lafayette - recruited Muskett and presented him a spot on the roster. "But I had already committed to Monmouth, so I wanted to honor my commitment," said Muskett, whose lone FBS scholarship offer as a high schooler was from Coastal Carolina.

He said at the time, he never could've imagined an opportunity to play for UVa would come his way again. "Because coming out of high school, the transfer portal wasn't nearly as big as it is now," Muskett said, "and I just tried to focus on the present. I tried to be where my feet are.

" That strategy worked well for the 6-foot-2, 210-pound signal-caller. Muskett was a two-time first-team All-Big South choice with the Hawks and finished his 23-game stay with Monmouth having thrown for 5,687 yards and 51 touchdowns. His tear through the Big South - before the Hawks' conference switch to the Colonial Athletic Association this past fall - didn't go unnoticed.

- Charlottesville Daily Progress .