There are plenty of doubters about what Anthony Colandrea can do at the helm of the Nebraska football team this year. Most of those doubts come from two facts. The first is that when he did put up his best career season last year, it was with a Mountain West team that was quite a bit better than anything anyone saw from him at Virginia.
The second is that what people did see from Colandrea when he was with the Cavaliers was lots and lots of turnovers. The quarterback has always been a bit of a gunslinger, willing to make turnovers, as long as they come with plenty of touchdowns. That worked out very well for him with UNLV. It may not work nearly as well against one of the toughest Big Ten schedules of 2026.
Even if people think that Anthony Colandrea’s success with a Group of 6 team doesn’t translate, Pro Football Focus believes that Nebraska has quite the producer. In fact, PFF recently laid out that the newest Husker quarterback is one of the best returning QBs in the conference.
Colandrea sported an 89.9 overall rating last year thanks to a truly impressive 2025 campaign. His numbers earned him the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year. It wasn’t by accident. He burned plenty of opponents. Even if he didn’t do it as cleanly as some other quarterbacks in his situation did.
Highest Graded Returning Big Ten Quarterbacks🎯 pic.twitter.com/QMtM4NXiO9
— PFF College (@PFF_College) July 18, 2026
Anthony Colandrea’s elite 2025 grade fuels Nebraska football's breakout hopes
PFF ratings obviously aren’t weighted by conference. The numbers Colandrea put up are looked at as if he would put them up anywhere. That may not be true, but his 89.9 overall was still behind only Julian Sayin’s 92.9 and Dante Moore’s 90.2 ratings.
The thing is, Colandrea doesn’t need to put up better ratings than either of those players. Even if he is outplayed against Ohio State and Oregon, if he can have the kind of season that he had in 2025 as far as amassing yards and finding the end zone, it will lead to one of the better Nebraska seasons in the last decade-plus.
Last year, Anthony Colandrea threw for 3,459 yards, 23 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He also did plenty of damage on the ground, running for 649 yards and 10 touchdowns. Those numbers were much better than anything he put up in two years at Virginia.
Still, Anthony Colandrea does not need to equal his numbers. The Nebraska offense might not allow him to come close to that kind of output, especially against some of the best defenses in the country. But if he can perform on par with his big rating, then he’ll be very successful in rewarding the Huskers for taking a chance on him.
Add us as a preferred source on Google