Virginia baseball and football standout Jay Woolfolk made a critical decision about his future on Thursday. Woolfolk announced that he has decided to focus on baseball and will no longer participate as a member of the Cavalier football program. He had balanced both sports since coming to UVA in 2021.
“Coach [Tony] Elliott has done so much for me starting with his first day on Grounds,” Woolfolk said in a statement. “His ways of teaching how, not only to be a player, but how to be a man, will always stick with me. It’s been an amazing year with him. I’ve reached a point where at this time it’s best for me to focus on my future in the sport of baseball. I wish the very best to the football program and my teammates. You could not ask to be part of a better group of individuals. I’ll always be their biggest supporter.”
This moment did not catch fans off guard, who had speculated throughout the past year that Woolfolk may be at a crossroads as a college athlete. He emerged as a key part of the Virginia pitching staff the past two seasons, while being mostly the backup quarterback for the football team. Future draft projections for Woolfolk professionally lean heavily toward the baseball diamond at this time as well.
Still, record-setting quarterback Brennan Armstrong wrapped up his Cavalier career as an outbound transfer this spring so the starting job was opened for competition entering Tony Elliott’s second year at Virginia. Woolfolk had a shot to challenge for the role, but he could not fully participate in spring practices while playing baseball so any attempt to win the job would mostly have come in the preseason practices.
Woolfolk flashed his potential as a quarterback in his two seasons for the Hoos after he appeared in nine games. With a strong arm and mobility, he fit well into the previous staff’s quarterback vision in particular. He had 22 completions for 245 yards plus 26 carries for 104 yards in his career.
Most of that production came in a spot start during the 2021 season. He became the first true freshman quarterback to start a game for UVA since 1977 when he opened the game against No. 7 Notre Dame in 2021 due to an Armstrong injury and completed 18 passes for 196 yards. Against Duke earlier in the same season, he had 5 carries for 38 yards late in a 48-0 Virginia win.
Elliott said in a statement that Woolfolk handled his time in the football program and the decision to focus on baseball in the “right way”.
“It’s been a been a pleasure and an honor to work with Jay over the last year and a half from a football perspective,” Elliott said in the statement. “He’s an extremely-talented young man with a skill set in both sports. At this point in his career, he believes he needs to make a decision long term and unfortunately for us, it’s not going to involve football. I fully support and respect his decision. He desires to go chase that dream and play Major League Baseball and I don’t fault him for it.
“I know his teammates are going to be excited, but also disappointed a little bit because we were looking forward to what he was going to bring to Virginia football,” Elliott also said in the statement. “In the end, when a young man has been thoughtful about the process, when he’s done everything the right way, you can do nothing but support him. Jay will always be a member of Virginia football. We’ll be his biggest fans come next baseball season. I’m sure that he’ll be rooting hard for us as we go through fall camp and prepare for the season. I love Jay Woolfolk and I wish him all the best. I can’t wait to see him finish out strong with Coach [Brian] O’Connor and the baseball team and then go chase that dream of playing in Major League Baseball.”
The upcoming year is a critical one for Woolfolk’s professional baseball dreams. Entering his junior season, he will be eligible for the Major League Draft next summer and that’s the year with the most player leverage in contract negotiations for the next level. D1Baseball projected Woolfolk as the No. 50 prospect among the top 150 college players eligible for the 2024 draft earlier this year.
Woolfolk led Virginia in relief appearances the last two seasons with 59 games played. To date, he owns a 2.89 ERA with 93 strikeouts and 40 walks. This season, he picked up 9 saves for the Hoos as they made a run to the 2023 College World Series in Omaha. That ranked fourth in the ACC.
In 2022, Woolfolk earned freshman All-American honors from D1Baseball.com and the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. In 2023, he was named to the preseason watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. He was UVA’s Male Rookie of the Year in 2021-2022 at the Hoos Choice Awards. After the season ended this year, Woolfolk earned a spot on the 31-man USA Baseball Collegiate National Team as well alongside UVA teammate Griff O’Ferrall. In his most recent appearance for the USA on July 11, Woolfolk logged 1 inning of work and posted a strikeout.
