Will Anthony Colandrea Redshirt? How Virginia is Handling Its Freshman QB

It was a bizarre sequence all the way around, from Muskett spending less than a minute in the medical tent and then immediately throwing a beautiful touchdown pass to the confusion of Colandrea seemingly about to go into the game only to have Brosterhous take the field instead. But it makes a lot more sense with the context of Colandrea's redshirt situation. 

Here's what Virginia head coach Tony Elliott had to say about that sequence:  

"He [Tony Muskett] reached for it, felt something in the shoulder, came out for a play. And obviously we're trying to figure out the severity of it, right. Because we got a young quarterback there that's kind of played his four games. And what you don't want to do is you don't want to burn a year from one play, right? So, you don't want to put a guy in for one play. Now if they're telling us from the tent that it's going to be an extensive amount of time, then [Anthony] Colandrea was good. Hey, we're going with it. So it was managed, I thought, the right way. They told us in time it was one play - that's why you saw Grady [Brosterhous] in there, and then [Tony] Muskett was back out there."

Elliott's words offer some clarity on how Virginia handled and will continue to handle the quarterback position and Colandrea's redshirt status. Colandrea came in for the injured Muskett at the end of the Tennessee game and then started the next three games, but he hasn't made an appearance since then, putting him right on the cusp of redshirt status. The NCAA permits a player to play up to four games while still qualifying for a redshirt season. For Colandrea, that means if he doesn't play in another game the rest of the year, he'll still have four full years of eligibility left after this season. 

It's important to note that Virginia's decision to insert Grady Brosterhous instead of Anthony Colandrea in that moment does not mean that Colandrea is done for the season. It was only because the coaching staff was notified that Muskett was going to be able to come back into the game almost immediately that they decided to go with Brosterhous. Had Muskett's injury been more severe, Elliott was ready to put Colandrea in the game to help the team win. Since it wasn't, it made no sense to burn Colandrea's redshirt for just one snap of football. 

Some UVA fans will be concerned abut the possibility of Anthony Colandrea transferring if he grows restless on the bench, especially after he started three games and proved to himself and to other programs around the country that he has what it takes to be a starting quarterback at this level. Some could argue further that the possibility of Colandrea transferring grows more likely if he doesn't play at all for the rest of the season. But as a counterpoint, if the UVA coaching staff is making decisions like the one in the William & Mary game in an attempt to preserve his redshirt, then there has to be at least some belief that Colandrea is committed to playing at Virginia moving forward. The knowledge that he has a pretty good chance of earning the starting QB job next season definitely helps on that front. 

Technically, Tony Muskett has another year of eligibility remaining. But whether he will use it or not is another question entirely. Given the promise Colandrea has shown as a true freshman, it's difficult to imagine him not getting the nod as the full-time starter next season, regardless of what ends up happening with Muskett. 

For the purposes of this season, redshirting Colandrea only makes sense as long as Muskett stays relatively healthy and continues to play at a serviceable level. We say "relatively healthy" because we already know Muskett's not 100% and he won't be completely healthy for the rest of the season. That much was guaranteed when we learned from Tony Elliott after the game that Muskett will likely need surgery on his left shoulder at the end of the season. So far, though, that injury has not prevented Muskett from playing well. He played a fantastic first half at Boston College and then delivered a really solid performance in Virginia's first win of the season on Saturday, completing 65% of his passes and throwing two great deep ball touchdowns. 

It was the plan for Tony Muskett to be the starter from the beginning, while Anthony Colandrea hardly expected to play much in his first season at the collegiate level. If Muskett plays well enough, stays healthy enough, and if there aren't legitimate concerns about Colandrea growing restless on the bench (in other words, if he is equally on board about keeping his redshirt year intact), then no one should have much of a problem with Anthony Colandrea redshirting the remainder of this season. 

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