By Jerry Ratcliffe

As it turns out, most of Wahoo Nation knew that Anthony Colandrea would be Virginia’s starting quarterback before they heard the news.

Colandrea said after Tuesday’s practice that he didn’t learn he had won the starting position until Saturday night, hours after the school announced the sophomore would be the Cavaliers’ starter against Richmond.

Colandrea was selected as the starter ahead of fifth-year starter Tony Muskett, and both quarterbacks could play Saturday night against the Spiders (kickoff 6 p.m., ACC Network Extra/ESPN+).

“I always wanted to play at a high level and being able to be in the starting lineup is a huge blessing,” said Colandrea.

He played in eight games (seven complete games) as a freshman after Muskett was sidelined twice with injuries. Even with no previous college experience, Colandrea surpassed Virginia’s freshman passing records.

The St. Petersburg, Florida native has come a long way since high school. He had committed to Middle Tennessee before Virginia came knocking. UVA quarterbacks coach Taylor Lamb came to a workout at Colandrea’s high school a week after the quarterback committed, and everything changed.

While serving as offensive coordinator at Clemson, Tony Elliott’s recruiting area included the St. Petersburg-Tampa region, so he was familiar with the talent in that part of Florida.

“(Colandrea) dominated the locker room and the environment, then we saw him compete against some of the best players in the state of Florida and you could see he has a lot of confidence,” Elliott said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “When you watch him – and you’re still trying to figure out if that’s going to translate – but when he came to training camp and just started throwing the football, you saw it.”

Still, Colandrea was largely ignored by the Power 5 schools of the time, most likely because of his size (he is listed at 6’0″, which may be an exaggeration). Elliott and his coaches were more interested in other aspects. They saw things in Colandrea that other major college coaches seemed to miss.

“What other people missed is that they put a lot of emphasis on measurements in terms of height and weight,” Elliott said. “We saw a very fluid passer with a lot of talent in his arm, and you could also tell through some of the things we do in camp what a competitor he was.”

Combined with the fact that Colandrea came from a football talent factory and rose through the ranks in high school, that was a deciding factor for Virginia’s staff to pursue him.

“We said, ‘Hey, man, we don’t put too much emphasis on metrics,” Elliott said. “This kid is a football player. He loves to compete. He’s got talent with his arm. So it’s too bad for everyone else that didn’t make it. We’re glad we got him.”

Assuming everything goes according to plan, Virginia could have Colandrea as a starter for three years, although Elliott said with a grin that in college football it’s difficult to plan three weeks in advance, let alone three years.

“Three years is an eternity, so we’re just happy we can focus now on him being the right guy,” the coach said. “AC, he’s not going to back down from anything. He’s going to take on any challenge. As a team, it’s our job to recruit someone who can beat him.”

Colandrea isn’t taking anything for granted. He knows that if he doesn’t keep up his good performances, Muskett will be right on his heels. The two battled throughout training camp as coaches scrutinized their games.

“They track everything,” Colandrea said. “They track your completions, your incompletions, your big plays, your bad plays, everything.”

During camp, he focused primarily on making better decisions and not making as many risky throws as he did a year ago, when he was intercepted nine times.

“My biggest concern was not to do something like that in fall camp,” Colandrea said. “I did a great job in camp, not losing the football and being smart with it.”

Virginia brings a lot of experience to its offense and has signed some talented players through the transfer portal that the quarterback believes will make a difference.

“Coach (Des) Kitchings (offensive coordinator) has adapted our offense to our personnel, the guys we got from the transfer portal, and I think we’ll do a great job on Saturday,” Colandrea said.

If you think that’s brash, get used to Colandrea’s style. He’s not shy, although his comments seemed a little more reserved than many of his remarks last season. He claims he wasn’t warned against saying too much, he just learned from experience.

“I remember saying something after the (Virginia Tech) game last year, and I know that won’t happen again,” Colandrea said with a grin.

Despite winning the QB competition, he said his relationship with Muskett has not changed, that they remain close friends and supportive of each other, and that he and all the other quarterbacks in the program need each other for the duration of the season.

Colandrea has not only matured in his decision-making as a quarterback, but also in the way he conducts himself, and that can only be a good thing for the Cavaliers.