As a redshirt junior, Armstrong led Virginia to the Wasabi Fenway Bowl which was canceled due to COVID-19. He is the all-time leader in career passing yards, total offense, passing touchdowns, consecutive games with a passing touchdown, 200, 300, and 400-yard games, and career pass attempts. He is also Virginia's single season leader in passing yards in a season, total offense, passing touchdowns, and passing completions. He also owns three single-game records when he threw for 554 yards and had 538 yards against North Carolina in 2021. Against BYU he tied Virginia's record for single-game touchdowns responsible with six.
High school
Armstrong attended Shelby High School in Shelby, Ohio, where he was a two-way football player and also played baseball and basketball.[1] In the three seasons prior to Armstrong’s arrival, the high school had a 3–27 record, but by his senior year, Armstrong led Shelby to a program best 13-1 record.[2]
In Armstrong's true freshman season, he appeared in four games for the Cavaliers. He made his college football debut against Richmond in a game where he ran three times for eleven yards while also throwing twice, completing once, and throwing for six yards.[3] He also played sparingly against Louisville in the team's ACC opener.[4] In that game he ran for fifty yards including a 34 yard run in the second quarter.[5] In a game against Georgia Tech he led the offense after starting quarterback Bryce Perkins went down with an injury.[6] He completed one of his two pass attempts going for a 56 yard touchdown for the first of his career to wide receiverJoe Reed.[7] He also made an appearance in the team's bowl game against South Carolina in the 2018 Belk Bowl.[8] Due to the new NCAA rules, he retained his redshirt for the season.[9]
In Armstrong's redshirt freshman season, he appeared in seven games. He missed five games against Florida State, Old Dominion, Notre Dame, and Miami due to an injury.[5] In a game against Pittsburgh he appeared on punt coverage.[10] In a game against FCS opponent William & Mary he went nine of ten for 103 yards.[11] He completed one pass against North Carolina on a fake field goal to Tanner Cowley for five yards that led to a touchdown.[12] He also threw his second career touchdown in a win against Liberty where he went three of four for 73 yards.[13]
In Armstrong's redshirt sophomore season, he was named as one of Virginia's four team captains along with Richard Burney, Terrell Jana, and Charles Snowden.[14] He had an FBS leading six games with 200+ passing yard and 45+ rushing yard games, he also had an FBS leading four games with both those stat lines and also including both a rushing and passing touchdown.[5] He finished the year third in the ACC and eighteenth in the nation with 296.6 yards of total offense per game and was eighth among non-option quarterbacks with 552 rushing yards.[5] He started nine of ten games for Virginia. He became just the second left-handed quarterback since Jameel Sewell to start a game for the Cavaliers.[15] Armstrong made his first start against Duke in a game where he threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 38–20 win,[16] his 269 yards would be good enough for second all-time for a quarterback making their first start with the team.[5] In the fourth quarter the team was down by three, he would then go eight of nine for 144 yards and two touchdowns to secure the win and the fourth quarter comeback.[17] He then made history again joining Matt Blundin when he threw for 270 passing yards against No. 1 Clemson where he became the second UVA quarterback to throw for 200+ yards in their first two career starts.[18] In that game he also threw for three touchdowns and ran for a team-best 89 yards which made him the only player since 2000 to pass for 225+ yards, rush for 70+ yards, and throw for 3+ touchdowns against Clemson despite Virginia losing 23–41.[19] Armstrong was knocked out of the game in the second quarter against NC State with a concussion.[20] Prior to his injury he went six of nine for 57 yards, the team ended up losing 21–38 in his absence.[21] He would also miss their next game against Wake Forest due to the injury.[22] Against No. 11 Miami, he threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 91 yards in a narrow 14–19 loss.[23] The next week against No. 15 North Carolina, Armstrong led the team to an upset win in which he threw for 208 yards and an additional three touchdowns in the 44–41 victory.[24][25] He led the team to five straight wins including their win over Miami and North Carolina along with Louisville 31–17,[26]Abilene Christian 55–15,[27] and Boston College 43–32.[28][29] In the games against Abilene Christian and Boston College he became the first Virginia quarterback to have 400+ yards of total offense in back-to-back games.[5] The team's game against Florida State was postponed following positive COVID-19 tests at FSU.[30] The team would finish of the year with a 15–33 loss to Virginia Tech,[31] in that game Armstrong threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns.[32]
In Armstrong's redshirt junior season, he was once again voted as team captain alongside Mandy Alonso, Nick Jackson, and Wayne Taulapapa.[33] He became the first two-time team captain since Micah Kiser and the second under Bronco Mendenhall. In the season-opener against William & Mary he passed for the most yards in UVA history in a season-opener with 339 yards.[34] In a game against Illinois he threw for a career-high five touchdown passes alongside 405 passing yards,[35] becoming the fourth Virginia quarterback to throw for 400 yards in a game and the second to reach that feat and also throw for five touchdowns.[36] Against North Carolina, Armstrong set another Virginia record when he threw for 554 yards against the Tar Heels,[37] which at the time was also the highest of the season up to that point.[38] In three-straight games against Illinois, North Carolina, and Wake Forest he became the first Virginia quarterback to throw for 400 yards in three-straight games.[5] Following a 30–28 win over Miami,[39] Armstrong threw for 487 passing yards while erasing a seventeen-point fourth-quarter deficit in a 34–33 win over Louisville.[40] In a game against BYU he suffered an injury after accounting for a total of six touchdowns in the team's 49–66 loss.[41][42] In that game he broke the school's record for passing yards with an eight-yard completion to tight endJelani Woods.[43] He also broke the record for 300-yard passing games with his ninth of his career, passing Matt Schaub's eight games.[5] The team would lose the final four games of the season, as Armstrong was injured,[44] to Notre Dame 3–28,[45] Armstrong returned for the team's game against Pittsburgh 38–48,[46] and Virginia Tech 24–29 to finish at an even 6–6.[47][48] Virginia was scheduled to play SMU in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl but was ultimately cancelled due to COVID-19 within Virginia.[49] After the season he won the Dudley Award.[50][51]
In Armstrong's redshirt senior season, he started all ten games for the Cavaliers. He finished the year fifth in both total offense per game (258.1) and passing yards per game (221.0).[5] In the teams season-opener against Richmond, him and teammate Perris Jones became just the second Cavalier duo to reach 100 yards in a season-opener.[52] On a 64-yard touchdown run he broke the school's all-time career total offense record,[53] it was also the sixth-longest run by a UVA quarterback. His school-record eighteen-straight games with a touchdown came to an end against Illinois where the team could only score three points.[54][55] The next week he broke the school's career passing yards record with a seventeen yard completion to Lavel Davis Jr.[53] Two weeks later he broke another one of Schaub's records as he threw for his 21st 200-yard game against Duke despite the team's loss.[53] The next week the team lost again to Louisville, but Armstrong had 12th 300-yard game of his career and tied Virginia's career touchdown record on a 40-yard passing touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks.[53] The next week against Georgia Tech he broke the record, this time on a 44-yard pass to Wicks again,[56] he also became the ACC's leader in passing yards by a left-handed quarterback with 9,034 and was good enough for twelfth most all-time in FBS history.[57] Following the 2022 University of Virginia shooting that resulted in the death of three students and players, Virginia did not play their final two games against Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech.[58][59]
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