Anthony Colandrea Brings Upside But A Low Floor To UNLV's Quarterback Competition

This offseason, the UNLV Rebels football team lost their starting quarterback, Hajj-Malik Williams, who was a surprise star last season after being named the starter. He graduated and earned an invite to the Las Vegas Raiders rookie minicamp, where he turned some heads. New head coach Dan Mullen turned to the transfer portal to replace him, adding former Michigan Wolverines quarterback Alex Orji and former Virginia Cavaliers quarterback Anthony Colandrea.

The two quarterbacks are in a very open and very competitive QB competition. Recently, Streaking The Lawn ranked the top 10 Virginia quarterbacks to start a game since 2010. While Colandrea came in ranked at No. 5, the more important thing is how they highlighted his high upside and low downside. 

Dan Siegel of Streak The Lawn breaks down Colandrea's time with the Cavs:

"Colandrea burst onto the scene in his true freshman campaign following Muskett’s injury in the early 2023 season. In a season defined by high highs and low lows, Colandrea finished with 1,958 yards (8.0 YPA) on 61.9% passing with 13 touchdowns and nine interceptions. About halfway through the 2024 season, Colandrea hit a wall and lost his swagger. He ended up losing the job to Muskett in the season finale, and transferred to UNLV in the offseason. With an emphasis on peak, Colandrea manages to sneak into the top five but his floor was just as low as anybody else on this list."

We recently predicted that Orji would ultimately end up winning this starting job, and Siegel further reinforces the reason we gave him the slight edge over Colandrea. However, he also points out the reasons that Colandrea can't be counted out if he returns to form with a fresh start in Vegas.   

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