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UVA Football: Living and Dying by the Anthony Colandrea QB Experience

With the knack for the exciting play has come a knack for turnovers for the sophomore QB.

Henry Pallatroni

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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Anthony Colandrea has been up and down through three weeks at the helm of the Virginia offense. Last Saturday’s loss at home felt like a bit of a step back for the sophomore quarterback, who turned the ball over three times en route to the 27-13 defeat against the Maryland Terrapins. 

The turnovers are frustrating, but are becoming somewhat of a normal piece to the Anthony Colandrea experience. Through 10 career games with meaningful playing time, Colandrea has thrown an interception in all but two of them, including four multi-interception games. 

The Virginia faithful already know that Colandrea has a knack for the exciting. He regularly dances around the pocket, scrambling his way out of pressure to extend the play. He showcased this last week with his 9-yard touchdown run to end the first half of the Maryland Game. His habit of extending plays can also be harmful; a wild scramble on third and long lead to his second interception of the Maryland game.

It’s no secret that Colandrea plays fearless football, but for the budding leader of this year’s team, the question is whether or not he can find the balance between high-energy quarterbacking and conservative, sound offense. Finding that balance has been the priority for Tony Elliott in his coaching of Colandrea.

"You've got to help him balance it. He and I just sat down and talked, and really it was, okay, what did you learn. What did you learn from the game," Tony Elliott said of Colandrea. "What he's learning is that there's some plays, man, you've just got to let them die, and some plays you want to keep them alive. That's where through experience he'll figure out that balance because if we tell him, well, don't keep plays alive, then that takes away a lot of what makes him special... So we'll coach him, and we'll balance it. But we're not going to take away what makes him special. We'll just use every opportunity to learn and present it to him, and hopefully he receives it, responds the right way, which I believe he will, and you'll see him improve."

Colandrea deserves credit. His poise as the face of the Virginia football program is laudable, and he’s shown flashes of brilliance in all three contests thus far. He is fifth in the ACC in passing yards, and understands how important limiting turnovers is moving forwards. In his post-practice press conference on Tuesday, Colandrea emphasized that he wants to “protect the football” against Coastal Carolina. Colandrea’s maturity in the face of early turnover woes will surely help him develop as he continues to progress in the early stages of his Virginia career. 

Colandrea next opportunity to take a step towards finding that balance will come Saturday, when he leads Virginia on the road against Coastal Carolina (2pm on ESPN+).

More Virginia Football News

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Virginia Football Depth Chart vs. Coastal Carolina | Takeaways, Analysis

Virginia Football Report Card: Handing Out Grades for UVA's Loss to Maryland

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Henry Pallatroni
HENRY PALLATRONI

Henry has been writing for Virginia Cavaliers On SI since August of 2024 and covers football and men's basketball. He is a fourth-year Economic and Media Studies major at the University of Virginia and is originally from New Hampshire.