During a press conference on Wednesday (August 25), University of Virginia football Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae provided an update on the backup quarterback situation.

“Well, we’ve got three in the derby,” Anae said. “There’s Ira. There’s Jay Woolfolk and Jacob Rodriguez. In the process of earning the backup quarterback spot, we’ve asked them to compete at other roles in the offense as well. I can’t be prouder of how those kids have embraced and accepted the thing of learning multiple positions, not just quarterback. That still remains to be seen who the backup actually is. Meanwhile, we’re developing backup quarterbacks in other roles in the offense, because they do provide really, really, really complementary skillsets to the skillset already there on the offense.”

Coach Anae’s summary was not much different from the one Quarterbacks Coach Jason Beck offered during his August 11 press conference. When the Week 1 depth chart is released next Monday, though, I expect redshirt freshman Ira Armstead to be listed as QB2.

Armstead, who enrolled on Grounds during the Spring Semester of 2020, does not have the amount of experience/development he could have had for two reasons: Spring football 2020 was cancelled because of the pandemic, and Armstead spent much of the offseason recovering/rehabbing from a “lower body” injury suffered in Week 5 last season against Miami. The injury required surgery, and according to Anae, Armstead was not able to have the workload this spring he otherwise would have.

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