UNLV Rebels Coach Dan Mullen Discusses QBs Alex Orji and Anthony Colandrea

The UNLV Rebels football team has been hard at work in practice, getting ready for the start of the 2025 season. New head coach Dan Mullen is implementing his system in Las Vegas and everyone has to do their part to get it down before the Rebels' Week 0 kickoff. One of the most important things Mullen has to decide leading up to their opener against Idaho State is who is going to be the starting quarterback. 

The team brought in both Alex Orji and Anthony Colandrea through the transfer portal this offseason. Orji is a dual-threat running quarterback from Michigan, and Colandrea is a more experienced passer from Virginia. After practice this week, Mullen gave an update on how the quarterback competition is going.   

Mullen on how his QBs are learning the system

“They’re coming along nicely,” Mullen said. “They’re both in the first year of the system and a lot of quarterbacks don’t see great success running an offense until the third year, whether you’re in high school or college or the NFL. We have to accelerate things with these guys. They’re working hard and picking things up fast, getting to see a lot of defenses thrown at them, and we’re throwing a lot of offense at them. We just have to increase the speed of their decision making.”

Mullen on what Orji and Colandrea bring to the offense

“Think of that experience. Alex brings that leadership and toughness of being around a championship culture. That’s huge. Anthony is all about energy. He always brings everyone’s energy up at all times. He does a really good job with that... They’re competing to show we can put you on the field and trust you to get the job done. The more we do that, the more depth we can create and the better team we’re going to be.”

It sounds like this QB competition is heating up. While we still aren't sure who the starter is going to be, it sounds like both guys are living up to expectations. Hopefully, we continue to get updates in the coming days and weeks as we get closer to Week 0.