Position Group Preview: Quarterbacks

With the football season opener right around the corner, we’re continuing our Position Group Preview series with the QB room, which features a lot of new faces.

2024 Performance

Virginia’s quarterback performance was quite mixed in 2024, a trend that has gone on for the last several seasons under this staff. Sophomore Anthony Colandrea won the job in August, beating out veteran Tony Muskett after a competition that went from spring ball into fall camp. There was quite a bit of excitement about Colandrea winning the job, given how he flashed in the 2023 season when he was forced into extended duty as a true freshman. 

And out of the gate, the returns were quite good for Colandrea and the Virginia offense. The sophomore QB led UVa to an easy win over Richmond, and Colandrea played well in that game, throwing for 297 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while also rushing for  49 yards and another touchdown. Colandrea followed that game up with another good one, leading the Hoos to a comeback win on the road at Wake Forest. After a shaky start that included a couple of turnovers, he ultimately threw for 357 yards and three touchdowns, rallying the Hoos for a 31-30 road win. 

After those two games, Colandrea began to regress, though UVa continued to play competitive football, so it didn’t seem to matter much. Colandrea struggled against Maryland with two interceptions and no touchdown throws, but led UVa to back-to-back double-digit wins over Coastal Carolina and Boston College. He didn’t light it up statistically in those games, but didn’t turn the ball over, either. In fact, Colandrea’s four interceptions in the back-to-back games against Wake and Maryland was followed up by a four-game streak without a pick. 

Then, the wheels started falling off for Colandrea and UVa’s passing game. He threw two touchdowns in a loss at Clemson, and then had a disastrous 156-yard, two interception game against UNC, played poorly at Pitt (143 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) but helped the Hoos pull off and upset, and then melted down at Notre Dame, throwing for 69 yards and three interceptions, getting pulled at halftime. Tony Elliott stuck with Colandrea for the home finale against SMU, but Colandrea didn’t do much in that one, throwing for 108 yards and a garbage-time touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

By the time UVa got to the finale in Blacksburg, Colandrea was benched in favor of Muskett. The senior backup got his first start of the year, after playing pretty well off the bench throughout the season when Colandrea was pulled. In the finale, Muskett couldn’t get much going, and threw for 178 yards and two interceptions, though he did rush for 62 yards and a pair of scores in a losing effort. After the season, Colandrea transferred to UNLV and Muskett graduated, leaving the staff to find replacements in the transfer portal.

The Projected Starters: Chandler Morris

Enter Chandler Morris, who was probably UVa’s biggest get in the offseason transfer portal haul. Morris is now on school #4, after time at Oklahoma, TCU and most recently, North Texas. The son of former Arkansas and SMU head coach Chad Morris, who worked with Elliott at Clemson, Chandler committed to UVa over interest from other P4 programs, following a few visits. 

Morris was a highly-regarded recruit coming out of high school, but he’s had to earn his way to this point through quite a few challenges. Morris played sparingly as a true freshman backup at Oklahoma in 2020, before transferring to play for Sonny Dykes at TCU. Morris played in four games in 2021, throwing for 717 yards and three touchdowns. In 2022, he started the season as TCU’s starter but got injured and was replaced by Max Duggan, who led the Horned Frogs on an improbable run to the national title game. Morris got the starting job in 2023, playing in seven games, missing the other five with injury. He threw for 12 touchdowns and 1,532 yards, and had a 300-yard game at Houston. Finally, in 2024, Morris stayed healthy and had a breakout season. He played in all 12 regular season games, leading a Mean Green offense that took off. Morris threw for 3,774 yards with 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions; Morris had six 300+ yard games and four 400+ yard passing games, and had a bunch of multi-touchdown performances, including five TD tosses against Tulsa.  

Now, Morris comes to UVa hoping to help the Hoos turn around their passing game. Morris is an experienced player who should be ready to both lead and play within a system that seems likely to be tailored to his strengths.

The Depth Options: Danny Kaelin, Cole Geer, Bjorn Jurgensen

Morris is QB1 at the start of camp, but UVa has added some intriguing depth pieces for this year, and potential starters down the road. In addition to Morris, UVa added Nebraska transfer QB Danny Kaelin in December. Kaelin was in Lincoln for one year, redshirting behind fellow freshman Dylan Raiola. Kaelin starred at Bellevue West High School in Elkhorn, Nebraska, and was an Elite 11 participate. UVa gave Kaelin the opportunity to compete for the job in the spring, and he played well in the spring game. Kaelin’s time might be right around the corner, as Morris has just one year left to play. 

UVa also brought in a pair of true freshmen to the QB room. Orlando native Bjorn Jurgensen had a fantastic career at Bishop Moore Catholic High School. Jurgensen is a good athlete who rushed for 23 career touchdowns, while also throwing for 5,443 yards and 58 touchdowns. He is joined in the freshman class by Connecticut native Cole Geer, who was one of UVa’s earliest commits in the 2025 class. Geer played at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, and earned a UVa offer after an impressive junior season, but missed his senior year with an injury.

The Big Question: Can Morris be a big part of a turnaround this fall?

It’s not fair to put the fate of the program and its staff on just one player, but Morris will need to perform well this year for the Hoos to get back on track. Virginia hasn’t had a winning season since 2019 and have been under .500 in all three years under Elliott and his staff; the offense, and particularly QB play, has been a big part of that failure. Elliott’s system didn’t click for holdover Brennan Armstrong; Muskett got hurt in the 2023 season opener, and while Colandrea did his best, the problems were too big for him to correct on his own. And when the QB play was good last year, or at least when Colandrea played clean, UVa had a shot. When the passing game went downhill, so did the team’s record.

Now, Morris can give the Hoos a shot of energy this fall if he can perform well. The good news for him is that UVa has significantly upgraded its offensive line, and seems to have solid enough skill talent around him, and a potentially improved defense, to make this work. Obviously Morris will need to stay healthy, too. 

Getting Morris out of the portal was a coup for a UVa program in desparate need of good quarterback play. Now they have to find a way to play to his strengths and let him help this team get back to winning.