Antonio Colston (born June 24, 1981) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name unde ...

and

Tusculum Tusculum is a ruined Classical Rome, Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable dist ...

. He was a member of the

Tennessee Valley Vipers Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

of the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

, the CenTex Barracudas and

Odessa Roughnecks ODESSA is an American codename (from the German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Nazi underground escape-plans made at the end of World War II by a group of ' ...

of the

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

(IFL), the

Alabama Vipers The Alabama Vipers were a professional arena football team, that played in the Arena Football League. For most of their history, the Vipers played as the Tennessee Valley Vipers in the now-defunct af2, the minor league for the original Arena Fo ...

and

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL), the Bolzano Giants of the

Italian Football League Italian Football League (IFL; the name is in English) is the top level American football league in Italy first established in 1978. The first recognized league champion was crowned in 1980. The annual final playoff game to determine the league c ...

, and the

Knoxville NightHawks The Knoxville NightHawks were a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Knoxville, Tennessee. The team was a member of the Professional Indoor Football League (2012), Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL). The N ...

and Alabama Hammers of the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor F ...

(PIFL).

Early life

Colston played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Clinton High School in

Clinton, Tennessee Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, Tennessee. Clinton is included in the Knoxville metropolitan area. Its population was 10,056 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Early history Prehistoric Native A ...

and threw for a total of over 3,000 yards and 31 touchdowns for his junior and senior seasons combined.

College career

Colston was a member of the

Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles are the intercollegiate athletic teams of Tennessee Technological University (TTU), located in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. The TTU athletic program is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) and ...

in 2000. After having to sit out the 2001 season, he played for the Tusculum Pioneers from 2002 to 2004, setting school records for completions with 544, completion percentage with .635, passing yards with 6,207, and total offensive yards with 6,964. He earned second-team All-

South Atlantic Conference The South Atlantic Conference (SAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the southeastern United States. The SAC was founded in 1975 as ...

honors in 2003.

Professional career

Tennessee Valley Vipers (first stint)

He began his professional football career with the

of the

in 2006.

CenTex Barracudas

He joined the CenTex Barracudas of the

(IFL) later in 2006 and completed 88 of 170 passes for 1,133 yards and 29 touchdowns with 9 interceptions.

Tennessee Valley Vipers (second stint)

He rejoined the Vipers in 2007 and completed 96 of 171 passes for 941 yards and 16 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. He missed 7 games due to a dislocated elbow on his non-throwing arm. In November 2007, he re-signed with the Vipers for the 2008 season.

Odessa Roughnecks

He signed with the

of the IFL in March 2008 after starting quarterback Dennis Gile was injured.

Tennessee Valley/Alabama Vipers (third stint)

He rejoined the Vipers for the third time later in 2008. After starter

Kevin Eakin Kevin Eakin (born July 22, 1981) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL), Arena Football League (AFL), and NFL Europe. He played college football for the Fordham Rams and was ...

injured his ankle on the first drive of ArenaCup IX on August 25, 2008, Colston, who had only attempted four passes all season, entered the game as Eakin's replacement. Colston then proceeded to complete 20 of 30 passes for 288 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions while scoring the game-winning 2-point conversion on a rushing attempt in overtime to defeat

Nick Davila Nick Davila (born May 22, 1985) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League (AFL). A four-time ArenaBowl champion, and three-time AFL MVP, he played for the Arizona Rattlers from 2010 to 2016 ...

and the

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divis ...

by a score of 56–55. He was named the Schutt Offensive Player of the game. In February 2009, the af2 announced that ArenaCup IX had been named the greatest game in league history by a group of current and former af2 head coaches, media members, and fans. In October 2008, he was re-assigned to the Vipers for the 2009 season. The Vipers moved to the

(AFL) in 2010 and were renamed the

. After an injury to Kevin Eakin and poor play by backup Stephen Wasil, Colston made his first AFL start on May 22, 2010, throwing for 238 yards and five touchdowns while also rushing for a touchdown in a 56–19 victory over the Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings. Overall, he completed 65 of 118 passes for 817 yards and 14 touchdowns with 4 interceptions while also rushing for 3 scores during the 2010 season. The Vipers folded after the 2010 season.

Bolzano Giants

He played with the Bolzano Giants of the

in 2011.

Knoxville NightHawks

In October 2011, Colston signed with the

of the

(PIFL) for the 2012 season. He completed 62 of 122 passes for 731 yards and 13 touchdowns with 10 interceptions in 5 games before being released on April 24.

Georgia Force (first stint)

He was assigned to the

of the AFL on May 10, 2012. He was reassigned on May 16, 2012.

Alabama Hammers

He signed with the Alabama Hammers of the PIFL in May 2012 after Hammers rookie Arvell Nelson was benched. However, Colston was also benched and replaced by Nelson after completing 38 of 78 passes for 357 yards, and 9 touchdowns with 3 interceptions in 2 starts, both losses.

Georgia Force (second stint)

Colston was assigned to the Force again in June 2012 before being reassigned in July 2012.

Personal life

Colston now runs a quarterback training program called The Gunslinger Academy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colston, Tony Living people 1981 births American football quarterbacks Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football players Tusculum Pioneers football players Tennessee Valley Vipers players CenTex Barracudas players Odessa Roughnecks players Alabama Vipers players Italian Football League players Knoxville NightHawks players Georgia Force players Alabama Hammers players Players of American football from Tennessee Intense Football League players