Did Anthony Colandrea Just Take Virginia's Starting Quarterback Job?
Anthony Colandrea is Virginia football's quarterback of the future. Of that there is no doubt. But is he Virginia's quarterback now? After his performance on Saturday, he just might be.
With senior starter Tony Muskett ruled out of the game with a shoulder injury he suffered last week against Tennessee, Colandrea became just the second freshman in the last 45 years to start a game at quarterback for UVA. Whatever the expectations were for Colandrea in his first collegiate start, he surpassed them by a wide margin. Colandrea completed 15 of his first 16 passes and finished 20/26 with 377 passing yards and two touchdowns. He set the UVA single-game freshman records for completions and passing yards and matched the record for passing touchdowns.
“Tough situation, but he was prepared. He was ready," said Virginia head coach Tony Elliott of Colandrea's performance. "He did what he showed us throughout the course of fall camp, which extended the competition way into fall camp between he and Tony [Muskett]. We knew that he's a guy that when the lights come on, the bigger the stage, he seems like he elevates."
Colandrea was accurate in short, medium, and long-range throws, connected with several different Cavalier receivers, and was very capable from inside the pocket as well as when throwing on the run. This gorgeous touchdown pass from Colandrea to Malik Washington was the first of six completions that went for at least 20 yards.
"It was awesome. It was something I dreamed of as a little kid," Colandrea said of the experience of making his first collegiate start at quarterback. "And going out there - especially with everything that happened - to start today, it was just a huge blessing."
Behind Colandrea's elite quarterbacking, Virginia scored 21 unanswered points and went on a 28-7 scoring run that spanned the second and third quarters, putting UVA in prime position to win the game, leading 35-24 in the fourth quarter.
"Thought he did a good job of managing the system, making throws. Then, he did what he does with the off-schedule plays where you think you got him and then next thing he pops out and he finds a guy on the run," Elliott said. "There are still gonna be some opportunities for him to learn, but overall just really proud of the situation and the circumstances to step in there as a true freshman, considering obviously Tony [Muskett] going down and then everything else that he had to be a part of managing to get to this game.”
Despite Colandrea's heroics in his first start, it was not enough for the Cavaliers to hang on for a win as, after a lengthy weather delay, JMU erased Virginia's 11-point fourth quarter lead with a pair of touchdowns, with the go-ahead score coming with just 55 seconds left. And although Colandrea completed 20 of his first 22 passing attempts, he finished the game with four incompletions, including an overthrow on a last-ditch, 4th and 20 Hail Mary that landed just a bit too far out in front of an open Demick Starling to end the game, as the Dukes came away from Charlottesville with a 36-35 win.
Still, it was a spectacular performance from Colandrea and one that gives UVA fans, even those disillusioned by Saturday's loss and the current state of the program, plenty of hope for what Colandrea will achieve in the future of his Virginia career.
But now the question becomes - should that future start now? In a vacuum, Anthony Colandrea did everything and then some to prove that he is capable of quarterbacking the Virginia offense effectively. And if not for the Cavaliers coming out flat after the weather delay, he would have led UVA to a big-time win in his first start.
But what about Tony Muskett?
Before Colandrea's eye-opening showing against JMU, the prevailing sentiment was that Muskett had shown plenty of promise in Virginia's blowout loss to Tennessee. And that's true. When he wasn't running for his life from the ferocious Volunteer pass rush, Muskett was solid and made several good throws, including a few impressive strikes to convert on third and long. Against lesser competition than a top 10 team from the SEC, confidence was high that Muskett could operate the UVA offense successfully.
And that's still true, but will he get that chance? It's entirely possible that if Muskett was healthy and got the start against James Madison on Saturday, he would have matched Colandrea's success at the quarterback position. Maybe, maybe not. But we'll never know.
The simple response to this problem is that you can't put a player back on the bench after he throws for nearly 400 yards in his collegiate debut. But this situation is more complicated than that and calls for a more nuanced solution.
Tony Elliott was asked about UVA's quarterback situation moving forward and here's what he had to say:
“My approach is that you don't lose your job for an injury. But, it gives us a tremendous amount of confidence in Colandrea. We’ll assess Tony [Muskett], see where he is. Today, he was available in an emergency situation. I anticipate that by the time we get ready to roll out next week, he should be back ready to go, but don't quote me on that yet. I gotta wait to see what the doctor says. My approach has been that you don't lose it, but we're gonna need both of them. I think that competition is great. I think healthy competition is really good because it makes each other better and then it helps our football team. It's a long season, we've got 10 more football games, and we're gonna play some physical football games. We’ve got to do a good job of balancing that competition, but we'll assess and see where Tony is, and then figure that out as we go through the week.”
In terms of coach speak, that's a very diplomatic answer from Tony Elliott. And he's right to say that this is a good problem for Virginia to have given the long and physical nature of a football season. If UVA has two highly capable quarterbacks on its roster, the team can grow a virtual immunity to the catastrophic consequences of injuries, an outcome that didn't seem likely in the preseason when Virginia's severe lack of depth was the main takeaway of the team listing a true freshman as its backup quarterback.
But if Elliott really means it when he says that Tony Muskett won't lose his job while he's hurt, then that means he plans to start Muskett as soon as he's healthy and ready to go, or at the very least that there will be a renewed QB battle in practice. Elliott also indicated in that quote that there's a good chance Muskett will be good to go for UVA's next game at Maryland on Friday. If that's the case, Virginia's quarterback situation could very well turn into a quarterback controversy.
Will the Cavaliers ride the hot hand and start Colandrea over the player who they specifically chose to be their QB out of the transfer portal? Or will they give Muskett a fair chance against a team not named Tennessee and in doing so, bench a guy who just did this (see below) in his first-ever start in a college football game?
At the end of the day, Tony Elliott and his coaching staff have to make decisions in the best interest of the team. Whether or not Tony Muskett gets a fair chance to preserve his job after an injury is not the top priority. When Muskett transferred from Monmouth, there seemed to be not a single player on the roster who could legitimately compete with him for the starting job. No one expected the 5'11", 180-pound three-star quarterback from St. Petersburg to be ready to take the reins of an ACC offense in week 2 of his freshman year, but here we are.
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