Rutgers QB Sitkowski asks to sit, Langan to start vs. Maryland

Rutgers Football head coach Nunzio Campanile spoke with the media on Thursday afternoon and dropped a bombshell.

The newly named interim head coach announced that starting quarterback Artur Sitkowski has requested to sit out this week to preserve his redshirt status.

“I had a discussion with Art this morning and obviously he had a really tough week.” Campanile told TKR. “He’s going through a lot and is contemplating, evaluating the idea of taking a redshirt. So he asked not to play this game. So we are going to give him some time, obviously we support him 1000 percent. He’s a great kid and a valuable asset to this team. He’s ready to be in an emergency role, be the backup and ready to play.

“Obviously a lot changed this week and we just want to do the right thing by him and hopefully he feels a little more comfortable over the next few weeks and is ready to move forward. I think he’s waiting to see if there is a little more certainty and he feels a little bit better about what’s going on in his future.”

With Sitkowski sitting out that leaves the Scarlet Knights offense with only two available scholarship quarterbacks. Luckily one of those quarterbacks, recent Boston College transfer Johnny Langan, played high school football under Campanile at Bergen Catholic.

“We don’t have much else so yes,” said Campanile. “He had a great day today. Obviously I feel at least comfortable knowing what he is good at. He has not yet played a meaningful snap in a college game and now he’s going out, playing against a real good football team. Honestly I think he handled himself really well. He got a bunch of reps Tuesday, Wednesday and today pretty much took them all. I know he’s worked pretty hard, had a great spring and a great summer, but didn’t get a ton of reps because of his eligibility situation.”

With the news of Sitkowski sitting out and Langan taking over, one might wonder would Campanile revert back to a spread type offense like he had in high school.

“Yes and no,” Campanile said about possibly changing up the offense. “In a couple days you’re not going to change everything that you do. So we have some of those elements in there, but it’s not really what we’ve been. We have to make sure our kids are comfortable with it. The way I see it he has to be one of 11 players doing his job and we aren’t going to put it all on him. We have some pretty good players out there and we have to make sure we get the ball in the hands of the guys who are going to help win games for us.”

Now that Art Sitkowski is sitting out and Langan is the starter, that makes freshman Cole Snyder the backup quarterback.

“If a helmet pops off or something Cole goes in the game,” he said. “We aren’t going to waste Art’s redshirt on something silly. Obviously he doesn’t get a ton of reps so we certainly have to limit what we do. He’s a great young player and obviously a college freshman, so it’s not easy when you’re not getting a ton of reps to go out there and play. If that comes up then we have a couple pretty good backs and we gotta make sure get the ball in their hands.”

After Langan and Snyder, Rutgers has no other scholarship quarterbacks. However coach Campanile didn’t rule out the possibility of moving one over to the quarterback room.

“We will probably evaluate it. Isaih (Pacheco), we probably have to develop a package for him,” said Campanile. “He’s obviously played a lot of quarterback and he’s a good player. It’s certainly not an ideal situation. That was one of the things, I really respect Art for making that decision, he said look I’d rather save the game if there was an emergency.”

One question that remains unanswered, is the whereabouts of Texas Tech transfer quarterback McLane Carter. He was injured with a concussion during game two of the season against Iowa, but hasn’t been seen at practice ever since.

“I do not have an update,” said Coach Campanile. “I do not see him playing in the near future.

“He is still with the program.”

Stay tuned for more Rutgers Football news and recruiting updates right here on The Knight Report!