Will Anthony Colandrea Redshirt? How Virginia is Handling Its Freshman QB

Colandrea has appeared in four games this season and would burn his redshirt if the true freshman quarterback plays in one more game

After a turbulent few weeks, Virginia's quarterback situation seems to have settled down a bit with Tony Muskett returning from injury and playing well enough over the last two games to reassert himself as the team's starter. There's little question that the true freshman Anthony Colandrea brought more flare and excitement with his flashy play, but Muskett has played a couple of good games now since his return from injury and led the Cavaliers to their first victory of the season on Saturday against William & Mary. 

There was a brief sequence during Saturday's game that brought that quarterback situation, UVA's depth at that position, and specifically Colandrea's candidacy for a redshirt season to the forefront of our attention, if only for a few plays. Here's what happened:

Early in the fourth quarter, Virginia was leading William & Mary 20-13 and looking to make it a two-possession game driving in Tribe territory, but the Cavaliers were facing a 4th and 3. Tony Muskett got the necessary yardage with his legs, lunging for the first down and taking a hit to his left shoulder, the same shoulder that held him out of three games after injuring it in the season opener. Muskett was clearly in pain and holding that shoulder after the play and was moved to the medical tent on the sideline. Meanwhile, Anthony Colandrea, who hadn't played since week 4, began to warm up on the field. Had he gone into the game for even one play, that would have been his fifth appearance of the season, thus burning his redshirt. Instead, Virginia opted to insert sophomore Grady Brosterhous, the third-string quarterback who had earlier been used in the game on a QB sneak. Brosterhous handed the ball off to Kobe Pace for a five-yard gain and then exited the game as Tony Muskett surprisingly returned to the field just seconds after he went into the medical tent. On the very next play, Muskett proved he was good to go by throwing a perfect deep ball to the end zone and Malik Washington made a diving catch for the 27-yard touchdown. 

The ACC's leading receiver, Malik Washington, goes over 100 yards for the game and 2,000 for his career!

📺: @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/HSvKxHfArj

— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) October 7, 2023

It was a bizarre sequence all the way around, from Muskett spending less than a minute in the medical tent and then immediately throwing a beautiful touchdown pass to the confusion of Colandrea seemingly about to go into the game only to have Brosterhous take the field instead. But it makes a lot more sense with the context of Colandrea's redshirt situation. 

Here's what Virginia head coach Tony Elliott had to say about that sequence:  

"He [Tony Muskett] reached for it, felt something in the shoulder, came out for a play. And obviously we're trying to figure out the severity of it, right. Because we got a young quarterback there that's kind of played his four games. And what you don't want to do is you don't want to burn a year from one play, right? So, you don't want to put a guy in for one play. Now if they're telling us from the tent that it's going to be an extensive amount of time, then [Anthony] Colandrea was good. Hey, we're going with it. So it was managed, I thought, the right way. They told us in time it was one play - that's why you saw Grady [Brosterhous] in there, and then [Tony] Muskett was back out there."

Elliott's words offer some clarity on how Virginia handled and will continue to handle the quarterback position and Colandrea's redshirt status. Colandrea came in for the injured Muskett at the end of the Tennessee game and then started the next three games, but he hasn't made an appearance since then, putting him right on the cusp of redshirt status. The NCAA permits a player to play up to four games while still qualifying for a redshirt season. For Colandrea, that means if he doesn't play in another game the rest of the year, he'll still have four full years of eligibility left after this season. 

It's important to note that Virginia's decision to insert Grady Brosterhous instead of Anthony Colandrea in that moment does not mean that Colandrea is done for the season. It was only because the coaching staff was notified that Muskett was going to be able to come back into the game almost immediately that they decided to go with Brosterhous. Had Muskett's injury been more severe, Elliott was ready to put Colandrea in the game to help the team win. Since it wasn't, it made no sense to burn Colandrea's redshirt for just one snap of football. 

Some UVA fans will be concerned abut the possibility of Anthony Colandrea transferring if he grows restless on the bench, especially after he started three games and proved to himself and to other programs around the country that he has what it takes to be a starting quarterback at this level. Some could argue further that the possibility of Colandrea transferring grows more likely if he doesn't play at all for the rest of the season. But as a counterpoint, if the UVA coaching staff is making decisions like the one in the William & Mary game in an attempt to preserve his redshirt, then there has to be at least some belief that Colandrea is committed to playing at Virginia moving forward. The knowledge that he has a pretty good chance of earning the starting QB job next season definitely helps on that front. 

Technically, Tony Muskett has another year of eligibility remaining. But whether he will use it or not is another question entirely. Given the promise Colandrea has shown as a true freshman, it's difficult to imagine him not getting the nod as the full-time starter next season, regardless of what ends up happening with Muskett. 

For the purposes of this season, redshirting Colandrea only makes sense as long as Muskett stays relatively healthy and continues to play at a serviceable level. We say "relatively healthy" because we already know Muskett's not 100% and he won't be completely healthy for the rest of the season. That much was guaranteed when we learned from Tony Elliott after the game that Muskett will likely need surgery on his left shoulder at the end of the season. So far, though, that injury has not prevented Muskett from playing well. He played a fantastic first half at Boston College and then delivered a really solid performance in Virginia's first win of the season on Saturday, completing 65% of his passes and throwing two great deep ball touchdowns. 

It was the plan for Tony Muskett to be the starter from the beginning, while Anthony Colandrea hardly expected to play much in his first season at the collegiate level. If Muskett plays well enough, stays healthy enough, and if there aren't legitimate concerns about Colandrea growing restless on the bench (in other words, if he is equally on board about keeping his redshirt year intact), then no one should have much of a problem with Anthony Colandrea redshirting the remainder of this season. 

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