Jay Woolfolk leaving Virginia football to focus on baseball

Two-sport Virginia athlete Jay Woolfolk announced Thursday morning that he is shifting his focus to just one of those sports. The rising junior played for both the UVA football team last fall and its baseball team this spring, but has just informed the football staff that he will no longer play for the team and instead will focus solely on his baseball career.

Woolfolk came into Virginia as a three-star football recruit, per the On3 Industry Rankings, and played quarterback for the Cavs the previous two seasons while also playing as a relief pitcher with the baseball team in the springtime. Now, he turns his full attention to his right arm.

Here was his twitter post announcing the decision:

Thank you for everything @UVAFootball pic.twitter.com/QRzannTKUm

— Jay Woolfolk (@WoolfolkJay) July 13, 2023

There you have it. After thanking the football coaches and program, Woolfolk officially announces that he’s a baseball player full-time going forward.

Virginia baseball coach compliments Woolfolk after 2023 season

Jay Woolfolk has a busy life to say the least. But being busy is the expected norm when you are playing two sports at the Division I level.

During the fall, Woolfolk suits up in pads and a helmet for the Cavaliers football team as a quarterback. But during the other half of the school year, Woolfolk is a relief pitcher for Virginia.

After Woolfolk’s second year on campus ended Sunday in the Men’s College World Series, Cavaliers head coach Brian O’Connor evaluated the sophomore’s spring on the diamond.

“Jay Woolfolk has a lot of talent,” O’Connor said. “This is the first year that he was required to go to football practice all spring. And I’m sure that took a toll on him a little bit that — there’s not many young men in America that are doing what he was doing — in the spring, competing for the starting football job and being a pitcher. There’s guys that do it that compete at quarterback, but they’re not a pitcher. They’re an offensive player and things like that.”

In two seasons with the football team, Woolfolk has played in nine games with one start. He was the first true freshman to start a game at quarterback for the Cavaliers since 1977 when Virginia played Notre Dame on Nov. 13, 2021. Woolfolk threw for 196 yards during the game, the most by a true freshman in program history.

Woolfolk finished the 2023 baseball season with 30 appearances out of the bullpen as the team’s closer with a team-high nine saves. In 34.0 innings, Woolfolk had 38 strikeouts, a 2.91 ERA and a .203 batting average against. As a freshman, Woolfolk pitched in 29 games with a 2.87 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 37.2 innings.

He pitched in both of Virginia’s games during the Men’s College World Series in Omaha.