Rutgers putting trust in true freshman QB

In an earlier time, a true freshman starting quarterback wasn’t necessarily unthinkable. It certainly was an outlier.

Not so much anymore, not in this age of what Rutgers offensive coordinator John McNulty calls the “bred quarterback,” those players who immerse themselves in football year-round, get individual coaching from quarterback gurus and arrive on campus ready and expecting to play right away.

Three of the Big Ten’s six new starters were in high school a year ago. Now consider the Big Ten had only five true freshman quarterbacks start openers from 2003-17.

Zack Annexstad will be taking snaps for Minnesota. Arthur Sitkowski will start for Rutgers against Texas State and Adrian Martinez for Nebraska against Akron.

With quarterbacks specializing at their position at younger ages and often skipping other sports, they show up with strong fundamentals and are well ahead of where freshmen used to be in their physical development. Once on campus, they must learn schemes, terminology and reads.

Much of that can be accomplished if — as Annexstad, Sitkowski and Martinez did — they graduate early from high school and enroll in January, which allows them to go through spring practice and get a jump on college life.

“They’re really not freshmen when they do that,” Rutgers coach Chris Ash said. “When you combine the early enrollment, all the training they’re getting year-round at that position, the game has changed. It really has. All those things combined, it has led to more young guys having an opportunity to compete and potentially play.”

Annexstad is the least heralded of the three freshmen. Though he transferred from West Mankato (Minnesota) High to the elite IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, as a sophomore — and beat out Sitkowski for the starter’s job there — he passed on scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Illinois and Pittsburgh to walk on to his home-state university.