Former UVA QB1 Anthony Colandrea at #2 on depth chart at UNLV heading into spring

The early look at the depth chart for UNLV Football, which is where two-year former UVA Football starting QB Anthony Colandrea landed out of the transfer portal, has Colandrea listed at QB2.

I don’t imagine this is what Colandrea envisioned when he hit the transfer portal in December, apparently miffed after being benched for the 2024 season finale at Virginia Tech.

Colandrea passed for 4,083 yards, 26 TDs and had 20 interceptions in 17 games as the starter at Virginia.

He seems to be a good fit in new UNLV coach Dan Mullen’s spread offense, but then, so does the other QB that Mullen landed off the portal, former Michigan QB Alex Orji, who I’m seeing listed as the QB1 going into the spring.

Orji “was a guy that was head-scratching to me last year,” Mullen said in an interview with former ESPN blowhard Dan Dakich back in January. “Sometimes I’m watching him and, you know, I don’t know, I’m not in the game meetings, don’t know what like everything going on at Michigan, but I’m saying, I don’t know that they’re highlighting his strengths, right? I mean, you know, in football, the job of coaches is to put a guy in position to do what he does. Well, that’s what coaching is all about.”

Orji didn’t get a lot of run at Michigan. He was projected to be the QB1 going into the 2024 season, but ended up losing the starting job to a former walk-on, Davis Warren, who put up underwhelming numbers – 1,199 yards, seven TDs, nine INTs.

But Mullen sees something there, and you can’t think Orji transferred out of Michigan to hold a clipboard in Vegas.

The coach’s comment on Colandrea: “I got to watch Anthony live. His ability to extend plays, scramble around, throw the ball, tremendous arm talent. Really excited about what he brings to the table.”

UNLV also signed a prep recruit in the 2025 class, three-star recruit Sebastian Circo, who isn’t expected to figure into the QB rotation for the Rebels in the 2025 season.

Back at Virginia, the two QBs that Elliott picked up from the portal to compete for the QB1 job are much better fits in his offensive scheme than Colandrea was.

The projected starter for 2025 will be North Texas grad senior transfer Chandler Morris, who passed for 3,771 yards and 31 TDs in 2024, after starting for parts of two seasons at TCU.

The developmental guy is former Elite 11 finalist Danny Kaelin, who redshirted as a true freshman at Nebraska in 2024.