Virginia Tech football rival announces a surprising starting QB

Last season, the Virginia Tech football team needed a win over Virginia in Charlottesville on Thanksgiving Weekend to become bowl-eligible. Seven days before the game and following a Cavaliers 30-27 upset of Duke at home, quarterback Anthony Colandrea decided to give Brent Pry and his team some posterboard material.

Shortly after beating the Blue Devils, Colandrea said, “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.” Unfortunately for the young signal caller and his teammates, things didn't quite go that way.

Virginia Tech went to Charlottesville and scored early and often on their way to a 55-17 rout in the Commonwealth Clash to finish the season 6-6 before a bowl win over Tulane. Going into camp this summer, Colandrea and Tony Muskett were in a battle at the Cavaliers' camp to be the starting QB, and head coach Tony Elliott made his decision Saturday.

Tony Elliott names Anthony Colandrea starting quarterback

According to Jacquie Franciulli of 247Sports, Elliott named Colandrea his starting quarterback for the upcoming season, in somewhat a surprising decision. He will be under center for the Cavaliers' season-opener against Richmond.

Now let's get the obvious out of the way, Virginia Tech won't see Virginia this season until Thanksgiving Weekend when they come to Blacksburg. So that means that there is a lot of football to be played by then, like 11 games and a pair of bye weeks. A lot can and a lot will happen. This is a rather big decision for Elliott as he enters the season needing to improve on their three wins from 2023 and needs to either become bowl-eligible to make the fanbase happy or get to five wins. It's a tough ask, but he's beginning the season with Colandrea as his QB.