Former UVA Quarterback Anthony Colandrea Taking Visit to ACC School

Matt Newton | 3 Hours Ago

Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Former Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea seems to be strongly considering transferring within the Atlantic Coast Conference. Colandrea posted an Instagram story on Saturday morning showing that he is currently on a visit to Syracuse.

Anthony Colandrea/IG

Syracuse might not be the only ACC school hosting Colandrea for a visit. According to a report from On3 earlier this week, Colandrea has planned visits to Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Ole Miss, though the dates in the report seem the be slightly off, as the report suggested that Colandrea would be visiting Ole Miss on Saturday and Pitt on Monday, with a visit to Syracuse coming next week. Instead, Colandrea is starting his visits with Syracuse.

The Orange had a great first season under first-time head coach Fran Brown, going 9-3 and 5-3 in the ACC and knocking off Miami in the regular season finale. Syracuse is headed to the Holiday Bowl and will take on Washington State on December 27th. Leading the charge in Syracuse's outstanding season was former Ohio State transfer quarterback Kyle McCord, who had the best season of his career, throwing for 4,326 yards and 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. He broke the program's single-season records for completions, passing yards, and total touchdowns and led the country in passing yards during the regular season and ranked fourth in total passing touchdowns.

McCord, who finished 10th in the voting for the Heisman Trophy, has exhausted his eligibility, which means that Syracuse, like Virginia, is on the prowl for a new quarterback in the transfer portal. Could the Orange pick Anthony Colandrea as their next quarterback?

In two seasons in Charlottesville, Colandrea played in 19 games and made 17 starts, including starting each of Virginia's first 11 games of this season before getting benched in favor of Tony Muskett in the regular season finale at Virginia Tech. Colandrea was Muskett's backup as a true freshman in 2023, but wound up playing a great deal and starting six games as Muskett missed significant time with injuries. Making the most of those opportunities, Colandrea set the UVA freshman quarterback records for completions (154), passing yards (1,958) and total offense (2,183), performances that gave him a leg up in the quarterback battle with Muskett going into the 2024 season.

Colandrea won the starting job entering his sophomore year and got off to a great start, leading the Cavaliers to a 4-1 record to open the season. But after throwing just four total interceptions in his first seven games, Colandrea threw seven picks to just one touchdown over a three-game stretch, threw for less than 160 passing yards in each of his last five games, and went 20 drives without scoring a touchdown in his last two games as Virginia's starter. Colandrea was supplanted by Tony Muskett as the starting quarterback for the Commonwealth Clash and watched from the sidelines as UVA suffered a 37-17 defeat to Virginia Tech to end the season one win shy of bowl eligibility.

Now, Virginia is searching in the portal for its next quarterback, just as Anthony Colandrea is searching for his new home, and it seems to be at least a possibility that he could end up going to an ACC rival, though not one that the Cavaliers would face in 2025.

Keep track of all of UVA's transfer portal activity, including outgoing and incoming transfers here: Virginia Football Transfer Portal Tracker

Stay up to date on all of the transfers who have received offers from Virginia or who have scheduled visits to UVA here: Tracking UVA Football's Offers and Visits in the Transfer Portal

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