Just ask Chris L. His 2015 season was OK, with 2247 passing yards seems stratospheric compared to the last 2 years. Carroo had 809 of those yards and caught 25% of his completions.
2018 QB Battle
- Thread starter ScarletStateofNJ
- Start date
Pretty sure this has been discussed and has little to do with Art's talent and/or potential.
OLine has been improving, slowly but surely - hoping that continues, and we start to see the pace of growth pick up a bit. This year was better than last. We lose Miller, but Vretman and Clark will be sophomores and may be larger contributors.
WRs should benefit from the offseason, I'd hope. Grant missed most of this year with injury, and Mitchell was a RB at Arkansas prior to transferring to Rutgers... beyond that, most of the WR corps was really, really inexperienced. Bailey and Harris were the only two that had any prior live college experience, and Harris spent a good portion of the year at safety. Bailey managed 9 receptions for 122 yds and 1 TD this year, after 3 rec for -5 yards last year. Jabbie redshirted last year, and Hayek/Melton/Wormley were all true freshmen.
Assuming Harris leaves for the MLB draft, our WR group next year would be:
Bailey: Jr; 12 receptions, 117 yards, 1 TD
H. Hayek: So; 8 rec, 62 yds
Melton: So; 4 rec, 83 yards
Wormley: So; 4 rec, 19 yds
Jabbie: RS So; 3 rec, 19 yds
Jones: RS Fr
T. Hayek: RS Fr
Lewis: Fr
Woods: Fr
Still a ton of inexperience, but hopefully this year put them in a better position as we go into summer and fall camp to prepare for 2018.
No QB, though, and it won't matter. That's the biggest area of concern. Hoping someone steps up and owns it, and we can get back to having confidence passing the ball.
Is Sitkowski currently the starter?
“He started most of the year. We’ve kind of gone more to a two-quarterback system the past couple games. We’ll name a starter in the morning for the game tomorrow (Friday). But they’ve both played evenly throughout the season I’d say when you look at the statistics. He did not start the last game but he and Zack are both playing. Zack’s committed to Minnesota, so it’s tough.
http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/i..._kevin_wright_breaks_down_new_rutgers_qb.html
So right now it looks like he's been beat out of the starting spot by Zack Annexstad, a Minnesota recruit. Zack has a lot more snaps according to the stats. Now does that mean Sitkowski isn't living up to his potential or is Annexstad just that good? I can't say because I haven't watched any of the games. But its pretty clear Sitkowski has lost the spot and that's a little discouraging
Game stats for IMG this year:
Preseason: Carol City
Sitkowski 16/26, 135 yds, 2 TD , 1 INT, 1 Rush TD
Swanson 1/1, 49 yds, 1 TD (fake punt)
Game 1: Chandler
Sitkowski 14/20, 130 yds, 1 INT
Game 2: Centennial
Sitkowski 18/29, 164 yds, 2 TD
Game 3: Central
Sitkowski 5/13, 10 yds, 2 INT (injured)
Annexstad 6/8, 48 yds
Game 4: Northwestern
Annexstad 14/29, 155 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT
Game 5: Venice
Annexstad: 9/19, 78 yds, 1 TD
Sitkowski: 5/10, 19 yds
Game 6: East
Annexstad: 10/17, 293 yds, 3 TD
Game 7: Hoover
Annexstad: 12/20, 152 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Sitkowski: 1/1, 8 yds
Game 8: Bishop Sullivan
Annexstad: 12/19, 214 yds, 4 TD
Sitkowski: 2/6, 39 yds, 1 INT
Swanson: 1/1, 8 yds
Better protection and a decent running game will do wonders for whoever is under center.
Just look at Dak Prescott: record setting rookie season but then the LT and RB1 are out and ***poof!*** he looks like a fringe starter this year.
Just look at Dak Prescott: record setting rookie season but then the LT and RB1 are out and ***poof!*** he looks like a fringe starter this year.
Meh... It's IMG. They LITERALLY have 2 full rosters (white and blue) and the kids who are playing best, at the time, are going to play. Pretty sure - at least from what I read here last month - Art has been injured some this season as well.
I agree with you. IMG is stacked and their competition was crazy good earlier in the year. So the competition and injury can explain why he struggled. But if he's struggling to keep a job at IMG I don't see him beating out Lewis for the job. His coach even said the speed of the games was tough for Sitkowski to adjust. It'll take time for him to be ready on the college level. He has all the tools so I'm not worried about his potential. I just don't think its realistic for people to think he'll be ready by next year
After he was pulled against Miami Central, his coach said: “He got hit high, in the shoulder area. It’s nothing serious — but serious enough that I didn’t want to risk him getting hurt anymore.”
He then missed the next game entirely, went 5/10 in the following game as a backup, and missed the game after that.
Tough to know the whole story, but he wouldn't appear to be the most accurate passer either. It is true that they play wicked competition, and also that their roster is very talented, so at least he'll be used to the speed.
The other QB is walking onto Minnesota, which is discouraging. That being said, sometimes these things happen. Tom Brady platooned at Michigan and said that experience, while it wrecked his confidence at Michigan, made him mentally tougher in the NFL.
I'd like to think that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to NJ HS football players and I'll say this: Sitkowski is the best QB prospect that RU has had since Savage and it's not even close. He needs to work on his follow-through and footwork but if they get him a good QB coach and don't jerk him in and out of the lineup, he could be a stud.
We also need receivers who can get open and can catch the ball plus a couple of good running backs.
There’s a reason why he’s rated so highly. It sounds like he has all the tools but may just take some time to put them to use. He’s struggling with an elite team with so many options so it wouldn’t be ideal to throw him in the fire his freshman year without too many weapons. He can’t carry the offense right off the bat. Give him a couple years and hopefully we’ll have some awesome depth in two years with Lewis Stokowski Chatman and wise. I’m excited thinking about all those guys on campus!
IMO it CAN'T be Gio. Lewis, Sitowski / Chapman need to be the 3 deep, with GIO as placeholder (Zach Allen)...and insurance policy if everything goes South.
MO
If it's not Lewis I really fear that next year will be a train wreck...Gio isn't winning us any games...and we saw with Lewis this season what happens when you expect too much from true freshman...