Virginia’s quarterback depth was slightly affected when senior quarterback, who was expected to be the third-stringer, announced he was entering the transfer portal. Frakes, who transferred to Virginia from New Mexico State in January 2024 and didn’t play during the previous season, will graduate from UVA this summer and is now eligible to transfer as a grad student with two years of eligibility left.
“I want to thank Coach Tony Elliott and Coach Taylor Lamb for giving me the opportunity to play at the University of Virginia,” Frakes wrote in the post. “It’s been such a special time in Charlottesville and I’ve enjoyed every second of the last year and a half. The relationships I’ve made at UVA will last a lifetime.”
Gavin Frakes, a 6’4″, 235-pound quarterback from Norman, Oklahoma, began his high school career as a starting QB in his senior year at Norman North High School. Despite only starting in his final season, he amassed nearly 3,000 all-purpose yards and scored 32 total touchdowns. Frakes initially committed to Princeton before switching to New Mexico State, where he played in 11 games as a true freshman in 2022. He made five starts, throwing for 736 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
That season turned out to be the last time Frakes saw significant playing time in college football for over two years. In 2023, Diego Pavia took over as the starting QB for New Mexico State and led the Aggies to a 10-win season, earning Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year honors. Frakes, however, did not see any action and redshirted that year.
At the end of the 2023 season, head coach Jerry Kill left New Mexico State to join Vanderbilt as a consultant. Pavia followed Kill to Vanderbilt and became the Commodores’ starting QB. Following these changes, Frakes entered the transfer portal and committed to Virginia.
Frakes was aware of the competition at UVA, where two quarterbacks, Anthony Colandrea and Tony Muskett, had each started six games the previous season. As a result, Frakes was expected to be a third-string option and did not play during the fall. With Colandrea transferring to UNLV and Muskett finishing his eligibility, Frakes briefly found himself as the top QB at Virginia. However, UVA added Nebraska transfer Daniel Kaelin and North Texas QB Chandler Morris, who is slated to be the starting QB in 2025.
Despite being relegated to a likely third-string role once again, Frakes stayed at Virginia for spring practices and played in the spring game. He completed seven of ten passes for 72 yards and threw a 10-yard touchdown to Kameron Courtney.
Leave a Reply