Often on this website, we write things ahead of games only to have them look silly after the final whistle has blown. But every once in a while, we get one right.
In our Spring Game preview last week, this was the section that proved accurate:
“UVa fans may want to keep an eye on freshman quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who has turned some heads in spring ball. Colandrea, an early enrollee that should still be in high school right now, will likely see plenty of playing time tomorrow and could give fans a glimpse at the future of the position.”
And Virginia’s early enrollee made that prediction look prescient, as he put up wan impressive showing on Saturday. With Jay Woolfolk unavailable due to baseball duties, UVa’s true first-year quarterback took the helm for the blue team, opposite white team starter Tony Muskett.
Colandrea looked solid right out of the gate, leading his team on a scoring drive on the game’s first possession.
For the day, he finished 18-for-29 passing for 218 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Colandrea was also robbed of another touchdown, when a beautifully-thrown deep ball that went 50+ yards in the air was perfectly placed to walk-on receiver Eli Wood, who wasn’t able to complete the catch. Colandrea would make up for it later though, hooking up with fellow early enrollee Jaden Gibson for a score.
On his final throw of the day, Colandrea had his pass tipped at the line, intercepted, and returned 99 yards for a touchdown, securing a white team victory.
Despite a lot of positives on Saturday and all spring, Colandrea was clear after the game that he still knows there’s plenty of room to grow and improve.
“I feel like I did really good, but a lot of bad mistakes, like young mistakes that I wish I could get back,” Colandrea said of his spring performance. “Like the pick-6 today, I wish I could get that back. But it’s all good, I’m just growing, being a young player.”
While Colandrea introduced himself to the fanbase on Saturday, he has also impressed some of his older teammates throughout the spring and specifically this weekend.
“He balled out today,” sophomore receiver JR Wilson said after the game. “He actually surprised me, the plays and throws he made, the shots he took. With his arm talent, there’s no knowing what he can do; he loves to take deep shots. So just seeing him throw that thing was impressive. He really showed that he’s going to be a great quarterback in the future, just overall how he handled today’s and managed the situations he was in.”
Colandrea showed plenty of ability and poise on Saturday, but it’s worth remembering that he should still be a senior in high school right now. The St. Petersburg (FL) native made the decision to kick off his collegiate career early, and learn as much as he could to get a jump start before his freshman season with Tony Elliott and Co.
“I wanted to come here and just compete with the guys, and just be coached by Coach Elliott, because he’s a great coach,” Colandrea said of his decision to enroll early and participate in spring ball. “I just wanted to be a sponge. Whatever the coaches were telling me, just listen. Because it’s a whole new philosophy from high school to a new, pro-style system.”
He had plenty of D1 interest, starting at Lakewood High School, where he threw for 3,137 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior. Before committing to Virginia, Colandrea was a verbal commit to Middle Tennessee State. UVa eventually got involved, as did other Power-5 schools, but the Cavaliers coaching staff was able to convince the 6-foot QB that Charlottesville was the place for him to be.
“Kentucky, Virginia, Washington State, they were in the mix,” he recalled. “But I love Coach (Taylor) Lamb, I love the way he coaches, and Coach Elliott. I just love everything about Virginia, the whole school.”
While enrolling early can be an opportunity for a young player, it also throws a lot of experiences at a young man very quickly. That’s even more true of quarterbacks, who have to know the playbook inside and out to have a chance to get on the field.
So far, though, Colandrea appears to be making the most of his college experience.
“It’s been good,” he said of the transition to the University of Virginia. “The school part has been a big skip from high school, because high school wasn’t as big of a challenge. And UVa football has just been awesome because the guys took me in as a brother. So it’s been a great time.”
And while enrolling early provides learning opportunities and impressions for Colandrea, it’s clear that he’s already making an impression on his teammates and the rest of the Cavalier program.
“We call him AC,” Muskett said after the spring game. “He reminds me a lot of myself when I first came into college.
“He’s a fun-loving kid, and he can sling it out there,” Muskett added. “He’s got a ton of arm talent, and I love being around him on a daily basis. He makes things fun for me. After you’ve been in the game for a while, playing college football, sometimes you start to feel a little dragging or stuff like that, but he brightens my day, along with the rest of the QB’s. He makes it fun to be around, fun to be in that quarterback room.”
Colandrea’s head coach has taken notice of his camaraderie with his teammates as well.
“I think he’s got a handshake with everybody on the team,” Elliott said. “So that tells you that he has the ability to gel, and galvanize guys to him.He was in an extremely difficult situation in high school too, the team he was in charge of leading. And to see how he was able to bridge that locker room and bring it together, that just tells you that he’s got that moxie to him. He’s got that Florida swag, which I like.
“There were a couple of times where I had tell him out there ‘play like your jersey is not orange,’ because he’s running around trying to do a little bit too much at times,” Elliott added. “But also with guys like that, you don’t want to take away from them what makes them special, that mentality that I can make every play, that I can make every throw. And that pushes the older guys too.”
And while Colandrea might not see the field on Saturday’s right away, Elliott thinks his ability can push the entire quarterback room forward.
“When you have a younger pup that you know is going to be a guy, and you have an opportunity to teach him, it makes you better as well,” Elliott said of the veteran QB’s working with his rookie.
For Colandrea, playing loose and having fun isn’t a new part of his game.
“It comes from always being confident when I was younger, and going into games confident,” he said of his maturity demonstrated in Saturday’s game. “Having that swagger, that’s just been me my whole life.”
While there is plenty to be made about Colandrea’s arm talent or his swagger, a big part of his performance on Saturday was the ability to do the routine and make it look easy. That’s what UVa’s coaching staff is teaching their young quarterback, who could be asked to make these plays on a much larger stage in the years to come.
“Fall in love with making the right play, that’s what Coach Lamb always says,” Colandrea said. “You don’t always have to take the deep shots, just pitch it underneath and let those guys go to work.”
