Nebraska Coach Matt Rhule Announces Big News Ahead of 2026 Season
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When the Transfer Portal opened back in January, Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule was looking for a new quarterback. In the current day and age of the portal, finding a new signal-caller for the upcoming season is easy.
However, this past portal cycle, there were some notable quarterbacks available. When the dust settled, the Huskers ended up landing a commitment from former Virginia and UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea. After a crazy portal cycle, the Florida native settled on Nebraska, and on Saturday, Rhule confirmed what nearly everyone knew: Colandrea was going to be his starting quarterback this season.
Matt Rhule Names Anthony Colandrea Nebraska’s Starting Quarterback
Nebraska will open the season at home on September 5 against Ohio University out of the MAC. The Bobcats will visit Lincoln and, despite Rhule saying all the quarterbacks have done a nice job this summer, it wasn’t really a surprise that Colandrea was named the starter. The other two QBs are TJ Lateef and Daniel Kaelin.
“Anthony would play for us right now,” Rhule said, per Steven Supple of On3. “All the quarterbacks have done a nice job. Anthony is obviously very competitive, very fiery. He expects to win every play. He does a nice job of disciplining himself to also take what’s there. He makes nice checks in the run/pass game. He can throw the ball deep.
“I think the biggest thing is he extends a ton of plays with his legs, which takes a lot of of pressure off the offensive line and backs in protection and puts a lot of pressure on the defense.”
In three years, Colandrea has played two for Virginia and one for UNLV. Over his career, the 6-foot-0 senior has thrown for 7,542 yards and 49 touchdowns. However, one issue he has had is throwing 29 interceptions. He threw 20 over two years at UVA.
Nebraska Starter Anthony Colandrea Nearly Ended Up at Florida State
Last season for coach Dan Mullen at UNLV, he earned Mountain West Player of the Year honors after throwing for 3,459 yards and a career-high 23 touchdowns with a completion rate of 65.9%. That made the decision to enter the portal a tough one for Colandrea.
He thought he was returning home to the Sunshine State to play for Mike Norvell at Florida State. According to Max Olson of ESPN, Colandrea visited with FSU, but left without committing because a deal was not worked out between his agent, Noah Reisenfeld, and the school. The Seminoles went with Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels, and Colandrea ended up with the Huskers after they showed interest.
The Cornhuskers are looking to rebound from a 7-6 season a year ago, which ended with four losses in their last five games. They ended the season with a 44-22 loss to Utah in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl.
It feels like a big year for Rhule at Nebraska, and he’s putting a lot of faith in Colandrea. The schedule has non-conference games against Ohio, Bowling Green, and North Dakota at home. They have difficult Big Ten games against Indiana, Ohio State, Washington, and Iowa, among others. It all begins for Colandrea and Rhule in 13 days against Ohio.
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