Virginia Football Notes: Anthony Colandrea Controlled With Media, Depth Chart Notes, And More

As the Virginia football team gears up for kickoff with Richmond in its season opener on Saturday, it's doing so without much outward chatter. Coming off of back-to-back three-win seasons, it's easy to see why the Hoos may be taking a 'let your play do your talking' approach.

UVA coach Tony Elliott has always been a little bit of that nature, noting often that 'you are what you put on film' more than anything you say. And with few victories in the hopper, the film shows a program in need of more consistency, fewer errors, and better overall performances to change those results. There's nothing potentially controversial there really.

Anthony Colandrea, one of the team's most visible players, took a similar tack in his first interview session with the media since being named the starter at quarterback this weekend. Colandrea made sure that nothing he said could be spun - see social media - or hung - see proverbial opponent bulletin boards - in any way that could be construed as a distraction. That's not surprising or unusual, of course, as it's the route most traveled by starting quarterbacks at this level, but it is measured for the sophomore slinger compared to his on-field flair.

On the field, Colandrea moves with in-stadium music during timeouts, bobs his head with confidence, greets teammates loudly with support, scrambles with abandon, and celebrates in the moment. Those traits drew fans in immediately, particularly for a program struggling to put up wins. Generally, though, he had been mostly reserved in media interactions as a true freshman last fall until one set of questions following an exhuberent victory against Duke in late November. After his first win as a college starter with Virginia Tech up next, he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "After this game versus Tech, after we beat Virginia Tech, this program is going to shoot up and everyone in the country is going to know about us."

The Cavaliers' in-state rival and owners of a signficant series advantage in the lifetime of any current players maybe didn't need the extra fuel, but the Hokies and their fans ran with it. And while it probably didn't impact the 55-17 outcome that dramatically, Elliott did say after the game that he spoke with Colandrea and indicated "You can’t do that. You have to be smarter," in regard to his comments.

Asked about his more controlled comments in Tuesday's media session prior to the opener, Colandrea said that new coaching on the matter had "not really" arisen as he won the starting job this preseason. He took it upon himself to handle it better.

"I remember last year," Colandrea said. "I said something after the Duke game that I shouldn't have said and I understand. That won't happen again."

So with that as prologue, what did Colandrea have to say about the season? The Hoos are going to "take one game at a time." And the Spiders?

"They're a good football team," Colandrea said. "They play hard, they play fast, and they're well-coached."

What About Anthony Colandrea As The Starter?

Virginia announced on Saturday that Colandrea would be the starting quarterback for game one. As a starter of six games among eight appearances last fall, that decision wasn't too surprising given that the competition with Tony Muskett has continually been called really close and Colandrea offers a little more pop to the offense's production and a longer timeline for eligibility.

Colandrea (6’0”, 183) completed 154 of 246 passes last season (62.6%, 8.0 yards per attempt) for 1,958 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. He added 225 rushing yards as well despite taking 21 sacks. He set single-season freshman records at UVA for completions, passing yards, and total offense (2,183 yards) and the passing yards were the most of any true freshman quarterback in the Power 5 conferences last season. While he did have those INTs and actually fumbled five times too (the team only lost one of those), Colandrea started to show improvement as the schedule progressed per Pro Football Focus.

The Florida native said he paid a lot of attention to ball security in the training camp competition during the battle to become QB1.

"Just not turning the ball over," Colandrea said. "You lose games when you turn the ball over. So my biggest thing was don't do that in fall camp and that's what I did."

Indeed, the biggest criticism for Colandrea as a true freshman came in the form of decision-making. While he showed the ability to make some big plays and to turn some off-script situations into big moments, he also had flashes of disaster where turnovers or negative plays hampered the offense. The offseason goal was to make his performance against Duke in a win - 278 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and only 1 sack taken - the norm when it came to positive production vs. troublesome turnovers.

Elliott said he could see the progress from training camp with Colandrea's choices in that regard. Virginia charts big plays, ball in jeopardy plays, turnovers, and more in practice.

"We refer to the ball as the program," Elliott said. "So any time you touch the ball, you have the program in your hands. So we've been stressing that with everybody. ...In relation to AC, what I've noticed is he's a lot more conscientious when he pulls it down to run, keeping it high and tight, and then also from a decision-making standpoint, some of those plays where he feels like he wants to pull the trigger, he's being a lot more conscientious and understanding the situations that sometimes it's just better to pull the football down and throw it away or get four yards and get down as opposed to putting the ball in jeopardy by throwing into coverage."

Other UVA Depth Chart Notes

While the quarterback position drew plenty of attention with that competition during training camp, the cornerback slots had a fierce battle going on too. There's still not full clarity there. The two corner spots and the 'SPUR' hybrid linebacker/safety role all have 'or' listings as the first depth chart of the season dropped on Tuesday. One corner job listed Kempton Shine and Kendren Smith, while the other had Jam Jackson and Dre Walker. The Spur spot has Corey Thomas Jr. and Malcolm Greene.

Coach Elliott said that the coaches feel confident with Shine, Jackson, and Walker to handle most of the corner duties. Smith and Greene can bounce out to corner too, but also have worked in that hybrid spot that can be use their skills against multiple receiver spread teams. Thomas gives a different look in that same spot. Elliott likes the versatility of the group, particularly when paired with safeties Jonas Sanker, Antonio Clary, Ethan Minter, and Caleb Hardy.

Here are some other depth chart notes.

• Minter is one true freshman on the two deep as he's listed at free safety. Grant Ellinger (second string center) and Billy Koudelka (second string Bandit) joined him. Koudelka may be the biggest surprise on the whole chart as a walk-on that turned down lacrosse opportunities to try high level football.
• Virginia listed the same starting five offensive lineman from the end of last season on the Richmond depth chart with McKale Boley, Noah Josey, Brian Stevens, Ty Furnish, and Blake Steen (left to right) on the top line. Others in the mix include Jack Witmer and Ethan Sipe (left tackle), Ugonna Nnanna (left guard), Charlie Patterson (right guard), and Jimmy Christ (right tackle). Even with it spelled out that way, Christ can play either tackle spot and he'd likely be first up at left tackle behind Boley (he did so for much of camp), Nnanna can play either guard slot, and Sipe has worked at multiple positions across the front.
• Kobe Pace, Jack Griese, and Xavier Brown are all listed at running back. Elliott said he expects all three to contribute with Brown in a potential change-of-pace role. Noah Vaughn is out with an injury right now (stress reaction, precautionary), but could get into the mix this season. Donte Hawthorne is showing good progress in a developmental role, per Elliott.
• Malachi Fields, Chris Tyree, Trell Harris, Andre Greene Jr., Suderian Harrison, and Eli Wood are all on the depth chart at receiver. Tyree, Harris, and Greene are among multiple transfers on the two deep. That includes tight ends Tyler Neville and Sage Ennis, who share an 'or' line as the season opens.
• Tyree is also listed first for Virginia at punt returner and kickoff returner. Antonio Clary and Harrison are the back-ups on punts, while Harris and Ethan Davies are listed on kickoffs.
• Jason Hammond is listed as one starter at defensive tackle with Mike Diatta as the back-up. Chico Bennett Jr. shouted out Hammond's work in camp on Tuesday during interviews. Jahmeer Carter and backup Anthony Britton are the other two tackles. Ben Smiley III is not on the depth chart this week, but Elliott said that is due to a late-camp injury and that he could be available Saturday in the opener.
• Punter Daniel Sparks will be handling triple duties it looks like based on the chart. He's the starting punter as expected, but also listed ahead of freshman Max Prozny for kickoffs and ahead of sophomore Elijah Slibeck for holds on field goals.

Where Is Virginia Exiting Camp?

The Hoos open the season at 6 p.m. at Scott Stadium with Richmond in town. With classes starting Tuesday at the University, the preseason pattern that featured football all day now shifts into regular game week mode. So where is Virginia in terms of preseason preparation?

On offense, the Cavaliers appear to have built some depth across the board. As fans can see on the depth chart, there are multiple experienced players at every spot with the exception of running back. There is a lot of returning production among those names too. Colandrea said he likes what he's seen from his offense this month.

"I think it's made huge strides," Colandrea said. "Coach [Des] Kitchings adjusted our offense to our personnel and the guys that we got from the transfer portal. I think we're going to do a great job Saturday and this whole season."

The offensive line had some players up and down during training camp (Boley sat much of the early weeks with a high ankle sprain for example), but that may have helped build some playable depth. With the season about to dawn, Elliott pointed out what he liked and what he thinks needs to improve for the O-Line to continue to grow.

"What I've liked is you're seeing more cohesion with the group so there's not as many I guess in our terms 'guys turned loose' [and unblocked], there's not as many of those situations, which tells me the communication is where it needs to be and all five guys have a good understanding of not just their job but what the guy's doing next to them and what kind of communication they have together," Elliott said. "We've still got to get better technically across the board at all positions because that's really where you win at a high level is when you can win the one-on-one matchup when the game's on the line. ... We've got to continue to improve on the technique and the depth too, keep pushing to improve the depth because it's a long season and guys get banged up."

As for the other side of the ball, Virginia has a lot of experience. While there may be a little bit of concern with depth at the edge spots behind Bennett and Kam Butler or at linebacker, UVA appears to have options in the secondary and the defensive line has some versatility with where players can take snaps. For a unit that is trying to get back into a groove under John Rudzinski after slipping last season with injuries, training camp created some optimism.

"Phenomenal," Bennett said. "We've got a lot of production coming back and that's what I'm most excited about. Guys are working day in and day out and we want to show that on Saturday."

Discuss it on the message board