Rutgers ready for Texas St. in opener
PISCATAWAY >> Rutgers coach Chris Ash enters his third season, trying to rebuild a downtrodden program. He’s hoping true freshman Artur Sitkowski quarterback can provide an instant spark as starting quarterback.
Sitkowski beat out senior captain Gio Rescigno and sophomore Jonathan Lewis to start against Texas State on Saturday. A native of nearby Old Bridge, New Jersey, Sitkowski is a big-arm talent with prototypical size at 6-foot-5, 224 pounds.
“He’s a talented individual. He’s got a lot of skill sets. He can make a lot of throws,” Ash said. “But above and beyond that, he’s a leader. People follow him. He’s been able to galvanize the offense around him, not only for this training camp but in the summer and in the spring. We think he’s got a very high ceiling and we’re excited to let him get out there.”
Sitkowski has not been available to the media since early in training camp. He’ll be under the tutelage of John McNulty, who’s making his second stint as Rutger’s offensive coordinator.
Before leaving for the NFL, McNulty orchestrated one of the most prolific offenses in school history in 2007, becoming the first program in FBS to have a 3,000-yard passer in Mike Teel, a 2,000-yard rusher in Ray Rice and two 1,000-yard receivers in Kenny Britt and Tiquan Underwood.
Ash, who was 2-10 with a 0-9 Big Ten Conference record in his first season and 4-8 overall and 3-6 in the league last year, is tempering his expectations.
“He’s a freshman and regardless of the position, when a freshman starts his first college game, especially, there’s going to be goods and bads,” Ash said. “Probably even more so from the quarterback position, because they are asked to do a lot more. We are excited about what Art can potentially bring to our football team but we also understand that he is a freshman.”