The UVA Football program needs a quarterback, and supposedly has an extra two or three million dollars in NIL money to play around with starting this offseason.
It’s hard to see Tony Elliott doing better than the guy who just put his name in the portal, Anthony Colandrea.
Both ESPN and On3 have Colandrea in the Top 10 among the QBs on the portal, in shooting range with Duke’s Maalik Murphy, Boston College’s Thomas Castellanos and Liberty’s Kaidon Selter.
On3, which pegs Colandrea as a four-star portal recruit, lists his NIL valuation at $1.1 million, which puts him near the top of the transfer class.
His value is enhanced by the fact that he has two years of eligibility left, on top of the 17 career college starts, which was a bit out of necessity – Colandrea had to step in last season, as a true freshman, to make six starts when Tony Muskett went down, twice, to injury.
As to getting Colandrea back into the fold, easier said than done, right?
I don’t know more than anybody else outside of Colandrea’s inner circle, but I’m of the mindset that his decision to hit the portal wasn’t over being butthurt at being replaced as the starter for the season finale at Virginia Tech, but rather, the way he was used over the past two years.
Colandrea would be a perfect QB for a spread-offense system, a la Robert Anae, the former offensive coordinator at UVA, who built high-powered offenses around Bryce Perkins and Brennan Armstrong, guys with similar skillsets as Colandrea – able to make quick reads, accurate in the short and medium distances, with the ability to move the chains with his feet.
He’s a square peg in a round hole in the Tony Elliott/Des Kitchings pro-style offense, which has its QBs dropping back in the pocket – and works if you have a Trevor Lawrence at 6’6” back there, but can be challenging if your guy is 5’10”, like Colandrea.
Rework the offense in the spring, from the pro-style that hasn’t worked the past three years, to a spread, then spend whatever you have left of this newfound NIL largesse on O linemen, and not only can you get Colandrea back in the fold, but maybe, just maybe, Tony Elliott can save his job.
We all know the way this is going to end up, of course.
Elliott is going to stick to his pro-style, end up with another small guy standing back there in the pocket, with a makeshift line struggling to keep him upright, and this time next year, we’re going to be learning about how the new head coach wants to do things.
Doesn’t have to be that way, is what I’m saying.
Video: I’ve got the new UVA Football QB figured out
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Chris Graham
