Latest / Return to Glory - Nebraska / Episode 20 | Anthony Colandrea

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Episode 20 | Anthony Colandrea · Return to Glory - Nebraska

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Return to glory podcast today. We are doing
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: one thing and one thing only. We're talking Anthony Calandria. Yes,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: this is in honor of a conversation I had recently
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: that I maybe had not done my research and didn't
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: know what we were getting here with our starting quarterback. Yes,
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: we've heard this guy can run. Yes, we've heard this
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: guy is risk-reward. I actually want to figure out, though,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: exactly what is Nebraska getting? here for their starting quarterback
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: in 2026 and potentially 2027 as well. So this is
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: the full Anthony Calandria story, where he came from, how
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: his games evolved, what his coaches have said about him,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: what he does well, what scares me, and why Dana
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Holgerson could be a really interesting fit. And what should
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: we as fans expect? at Nebraska, expect for him in
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the Big Ten. I would say, number one, most importantly,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: from what I have found and seen, the best single
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: word to describe Calandria is he's a playmaker. That's a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: good way of putting it. And that comes with a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: lot of things. It can be good and bad. He
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: has spent basically his entire football career believing that even
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: when a play breaks down, he can fix it. And again,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: that's the most exciting thing that you can have in
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: a playmaker, but it can also be something you have
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to manage throughout a season. So Calandria is originally from St. Petersburg,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Florida and played at Lakewood High School for head coach
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Corey Moore. He was not a five star. He was
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: generally a three star recruit, but he had really good
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: production in his four year high school career. Here's his numbers.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: He threw for 7,300 yards and 60 touchdowns in his
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: four years. As a senior, he completed 64% of his
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: passes and threw for 3,100 yards and 28 touchdowns. He
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: also ran, and this is important, ran for 650 yards
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and six touchdowns as a senior. His senior team, Lakewood,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: went 9-5 and reached the semifinals in Class 2M and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: was the county player of the year. So before he
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: went to college even, the profile was there, mobile, aggressive, comfortable,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: had the ball in his hands, had ability and willingness
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: to create. And I think that's important to note, that
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: his high school stats, that's why he became a college quarterback.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: He's always played this way. This is not something that
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: he developed in college. This is Anthony Calandria. At his roots.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: So then he goes to Virginia. As a true freshman.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: In 2023. He gets thrown in almost immediately. He appeared
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: in 8 games. And completed. 154 of 246 passes. For
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: nearly 2,000 yards. 13 touchdowns. And 9 interceptions. Keep this
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: touchdown to interception ratio stat. In mind here. As we
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: go through this. And throughout the season. So a freshman,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: 13 touchdowns, 9 interceptions. At Virginia, he was named Offensive
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Player of the Year. He earned freshman honors. And once again,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: his number one quality was the improvisation. He could escape,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: change his arm angle, attack downfield. He played with no fear.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: That's the same thing that keeps coming back. In 2024,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: at Virginia, he was the full-time guy. He started all
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: 11 games through for over 2,000 yards, 13 touchdowns, 11 picks, 61.9%
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: completion percentage. Another stat here, that is something, again, I
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: think when you hear college quarterbacks, you're expecting whatever, 70%,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: something around there, right? This guy, there's going to be
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: some throws that you're going to go, ugh. He also
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: had 277 rushing yards overall. in his sophomore season. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Tony Elliott was his coach at Virginia. He talked about
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: him teaching that some plays have to die and some
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: plays should be kept alive. Because if you tell him
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to never keep a play alive, you take away what
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: makes him special. So again, Tony Elliott commenting on and
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: trying to teach Calandria that there are plays that need
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: to die, but you can't completely shut him down. Otherwise,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you're losing what he's best at, and that is his improvisation.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: So then part three of the Calandria saga goes to
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: UNLV in 2025, where he started all 14 games, completed
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: 275 of 417 passes, 23 touchdowns, and only nine interceptions.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: This TD to INT ratio gets better in his junior season.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: His 65.9% completion rate is a UNLV single season record.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: And he rushed for 650 yards, 10 rushing touchdowns at UNLV.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He wins Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year under
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: Dan Mullen and his first team all Mountain West. UNLV
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: won 10 games, gets to the Mountain West Championship game,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: and ultimately loses to Ohio in the Frisco Bowl. And
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's important to note here. Anthony Calandra is
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: not going to be overlooking Ohio game one here. His
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: most recent college football loss came to the Bobcats. So
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: I think that is an important thing to mention. At UNLV,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: his numbers all did improve. He became a lot more
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: efficient and explosive. And his interception rate fell significantly. So, now,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Dan Mullen is a quarterback whisperer. as he's known. And
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I think that's very important that he got coached by
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: someone like that and seeing if we can continue to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: build on that here in Nebraska. Mullen praised his growth.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: He was willing to attack it downfield when he got
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: one-on-one coverage. Obviously that involves having receivers that you think
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: have an advantage. And the Mountain West is going to
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: be different than the Big Ten. And And Mullen also
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: commented on his ability to take the smart check down
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: when needed as well. So long story short, his time
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: at UNLV is the same story that we've been hearing everywhere.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to read the numbers again, but they
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: got better. So now he comes to Nebraska. And let's
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: specifically talk about what we know. So I have four
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: things here that I want to talk, actually a little
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: more than four, five things that I want to talk
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: about in detail that I think are very important as
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: they pertain to this season. Number one, the one that
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: we've all heard is mobility. After the Dylan Raiola era
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: here in Nebraska, this is a big thing that the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: box that had to be checked here, I believe, for
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: this coaching staff. He's a legit rushing threat. He's not
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: just athletic for a quarterback. He scored 10 rushing touchdowns.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: They're going to have to account for his run game
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: and keep an extra guy in the box, whether that
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: be in zone reads, quarterback draws, scramble situations. He is mobile.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: And this goes along with it. Number two is his
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: pocket escape presence. If you watch some clips of him,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: he does a great job of stepping up in the pocket,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: and depending on what he's got, he will get out
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: of the pocket very quickly if needed. Now, sometimes that
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: isn't always what you want. If there are open receivers downfield,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: you don't want to automatically abandon the pocket. But he
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: knows that he has the ability to improvise plays, as
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: mentioned before, outside of the pocket. And that leads to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: number three. is developing outside structure than what was designed
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: for the play. Creation of outside structure. His number one
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: favorite quarterback, number two favorite quarterback that he mentioned that
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: he likes to idolize his game on. I'll let you
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: take a second and guess if you haven't heard it.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Because it's not that surprising. Johnny Manziel, Baker Mayfield. There
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you go. And based on what we've heard and what
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: we've seen in clips, That's not surprising. Number four, we've
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: talked about his legs a lot. Number four is arm talent.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Dana Holgerson did say something interesting during his training camp.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: He knew he was mobile, but coaching him, he didn't
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: know what he was doing. getting exactly with his arm talent.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Holgerson says he has been checking those boxes. And just
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: like Dylan, he's been able to throw from imperfect platforms,
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: change his arm angles, and most importantly, has enough arm
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: strength and ability to stretch the ball downfield. I think
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: that's very important as we talk about Calandria. And then fifth,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: his competitiveness. And I think this is a very important thing.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: You want to assume that every Division I college athlete
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: is competitive. But this guy, I think you can see it,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: has another level of just wanting to win the play.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: And ultimately winning every play leads to winning the game. Unfortunately,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: That can be a weakness. If you're trying too hard
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: to win every play, that's where you might see him
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: escape one defender, try to get away from another, and
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: then try to throw across his body, across the field,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: instead of just taking the smart play. And I wouldn't
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: say so much he's trying to win the play there,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: but he's just going above and beyond to try to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: get the most out of maybe something that wasn't there.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Just something to keep an eye on. That's going to
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: be the key negative thing to watch for is the
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: bust side of boom and bust. Um, so I think
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the thing that Nebraska, we, we need to be looking
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: out for is not, or can, are we, are we
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: trying to halt all of his improvisation and stop the,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: stop the bad completely? No, you're not going to, but
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: can you minimize it and build upon what Dan Mullen
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: was able to do at UNLV, uh, in Calandria's third season? Um,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: The Ohio game I mentioned before, I think it's important
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: to watch if you haven't. UNLV did lose 17-10 in
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Calandria at a very mediocre game. No passing, touchdowns, one interception,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: threw for 184 yards, ran for just 28 yards. I
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: think he also had a fumble in that game. I
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: think that that was... the negative side that you could
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: see with Anthony Calandria in that game, and Ohio had
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a game plan to stop him in that bowl game. So, again,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: as we get into game one and game week here,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: just know that was Calandria's last game. Like, they lost
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: to Ohio 17-10, and he didn't have the greatest of games. So,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see how he handles that, and I
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: think that can only help us in the locker room
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: as we prepare for the Bobcats. Dana Holgerson and Calandria,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: the mesh here. And I think this is where things
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: could get really fun, and expectations for the season could
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: be very dependent off of this and how this offense works.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Holgerson has made a career out of creating good answers
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: for quarterbacks. He loves to design plays in space. He
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: likes leverage. He wants his quarterbacks to understand where the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: gaps are in the defense and then figure out to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: make the football play accordingly. Here's the beauty of Anthony
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Calandria that we didn't have with Dylan Raiola. The defense
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: has to account for his run game, whether you're running
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the ball every time or not. He might end up
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: running for 20 yards, but we might have a really
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: successful offensive day because the defense had to overstress on
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: his run game. So, that being said, that's just another
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: element that you have to consider that we didn't have
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: with Dylan Raiola. In addition, you make the defense respect
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: designed runs, RPO concepts, all of that stuff that the
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: legs can incorporate that Dylan couldn't do. And again, I
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: mentioned before too, Holgerson was very pleased with the arm talent, which, again,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: we haven't seen much of that yet. Obviously, talent is
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: one thing when you're throwing in practice in seven-on-seven and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: everything versus when you get out there on Saturday and
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: are in a game situation. So, you know, you hope
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: this coaching staff obviously is preparing for Everybody as game-like
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: as possible. And the first three games, knock on wood,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: are good games to get ready for the Big Ten.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And we'll see how that goes. And lastly, I want
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: to say, what's going to change here for Nebraska and
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: in the Big Ten? I hope, and if you're optimistic,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: that this offense is going to feel a little bit different.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: And there's going to be plays still that aren't blocked perfectly.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: We've heard about this offensive line being better. It's not
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: going to be perfect. With Calandria, that hopefully means that
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: we can minimize the negative impacts to a broken play
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: because he can help extend those and turn something, turn
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: nothing into something. But with a creator, with a playmaker,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: that word we keep coming back to, it invites volatility
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: and and you're going to get the spectrum of the
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: highs and lows. It's not going to be a steady
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: game manager, and that is something that we've wanted at
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Nebraska here for a while. I mean, it shouldn't be
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: for a while, but after Jeff Sims, right, we wanted
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: just a game manager. All we needed was a game manager.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Our defense was good. We had a decent offensive game plan,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: but we just needed a game manager. We kind of
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: got that with Dylan. That didn't work. So now we're
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: going back to the volatile playmaker, Now Jeff Sims had
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: very few highs. He had a lot more lows than highs.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: But you have to expect that there's going to be
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: some bad here too. And you just hope that the
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: bad doesn't cost us gains when they're needed most. The
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Mountain West is not the Big Ten. We're going to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: hear that a lot too, especially if things go south.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: You're just going to have more athletes on the defensive
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: side of the ball. You're going to have better edge rushers.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: You're going to have better and faster linebackers. Your schemes
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: are going to be disguised better in the secondary. So again,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Calandria is going to have to be coached in a
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: way that he can identify these things and create more
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: boom than bust. And if we do that, our season
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: is going to look a lot better than if he's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: not able to do that. And the encouraging thing is
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: that every year of his college career since high school
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: and moving on has gotten better at that. So I'm
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: not going to put it all on the coaching staff,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: but a little bit. Yeah, Dana Holgerson, this is you.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Matt Rule, this is you. Like, here you go. This
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: is the guy you brought in. You have missed on
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: quarterbacks so far. Jeff Sims, big-time miss. Dylan Royola, five-star. Yeah,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: it's supposed to be everything great. Well, he's not here anymore.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: And he clearly wasn't a fit here at Nebraska. So.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: What should we expect? The number that personally I care
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: the most about is going to be the turnovers. Yeah,
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: obviously the exciting plays as well are going to be
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: quote-unquote cool. You're going to see a lot of highlights
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: on it. But can we limit the turnovers? Yeah, turnovers
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: are going to happen. You're not going to keep it
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: to zero. But are they going to happen at a
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: time that are costly to a game? And can we
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: keep those numbers down and not be a top, I
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: don't know, 20 team in the country in turnovers? Because
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: if that's the case, the record's not going to look
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: very good in my mind. If we can, you know,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: stay middle of the pack in turnovers or more importantly, actually,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: let's get a positive turnover margin with our defense. If
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: we can do that, then yeah, this is going to
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: work pretty well. But if we can't, we're going to
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: be in for a long season and who knows where
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: it takes us. So just keep that turnover thing in
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: mind and interceptions, obviously, as a quarterback, but also the fumbles.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Not just from the quarterback, but the running backs as well.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Here's the beauty about the running back room. You fumble
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the ball, you're probably getting to go to the bench
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: and next man up because we have three guys listed
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: on the depth chart, which we'll get into on Thursday,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: that are listed as ors with Mosey, Jamal Rule, and
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Mekhi Nelson. So to close out here, here's where I
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: land on Anthony Calandria. You're making a bet on things
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: that you really cannot easily touch. Creativity, competitiveness, mobility, just
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: general feel outside the pocket. They're already there, but then
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: there's also things that have hurt him. Forcing plays, unnecessary risks.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Tony Elliott clearly saw that balance at Virginia years ago.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Dan Mullen saw progress and helped bring that negative floor up.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Now it's Dana Holgerson's turn, another quarterback coach, to get
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the most experienced version of this player. And that's why
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I think this is really fascinating because we're not trying
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: to get Calandria to be somebody he's not. We're just
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: trying to get him to be the most disciplined and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: playmaking version of himself. Yeah, keep the creativity. Keep the swagger.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Keep the legs. keep the off-platform throws, and find a
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: way to turn a busted play into 35 yards. But
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: just understand that the best play a quarterback can make
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: sometimes after you break a tackle in the backfield is
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: throwing the ball into row 12 and moving on to
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the next play. If we find that balance, of risk-reward,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: this offense has a chance to be significantly more difficult
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: to defend. And it does all mesh as well. Anthony
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Kalandra could be one of the most entertaining quarterbacks Nebraska's
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: had in a long time. That's the player that we're getting,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: and that's the gamble. And starting with Ohio, the team
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: that he most recently has lost to in his collegiate career,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: we're about to find out exactly how well it translates
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: to Nebraska. This has been the Return to Glory podcast.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Hunter Zarvernicky. We'll see you tomorrow with Wacky Dacky Wednesday.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Go Big Red.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: The headlines change, but the mission stays. From Memorial Stadium
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: to PBA days. Football Saturdays, basketball nights.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Every story chasing red and white. Recruiting buzz, big time commits.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: Camp battles, coaching hits.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Transfer moves and rising stars. The road to glory's never far.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: This is Return to Glory, where every headline tells a story.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Go Big Red! See you next episode!