Rutgers Football: Artur Sitkowski shows promise in debut

3. Sitkowski showed what he’s capable of but made some mistakes

Former Rutgers center and Scarlet Knights’ Hall of Famer Shaun O’Hara said it best on the Big Ten Network broadcast. He voiced that Sitkowski has a “magical arm.” Indeed, his mechanics looked smooth and polished for such a young player.

Sitkowski went to work early in the first game of his college career by engineering an 11-play, 71-yard drive in the first offensive series that culminated with a rushing touchdown.

The freshman showed accuracy in the mid-range passing game but never really unleashed his big-arm potential. In the first half, he completed 13 of 17 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown pass. By game’s end, he racked up 20 completions and 205 yards.

Perhaps a more overlooked aspect of his Sitkowski’s debut was that he showed toughness. He took some shots while sitting in the pocket to complete a pass but also in the open field. In the first quarter, he took a blow to the helmet on a slide and then later in the same quarter, got drilled on a roughing the passer penalty.

Sitkowksi also made some freshman mistakes, nearly getting intercepted on a few occasions throwing into traffic while actually getting picked three times.

With under a minute to go in the first half, he threaded the needle to complete a would-be touchdown pass to Jerome Washington that was called back. On the next play, he surrendered an interception to halt the drive.

In the third quarter, he telegraphed a rollout pass that was intercepted and taken to the end zone for a pick-six and in the fourth quarter, he let a deep ball fly into double coverage while getting hit which resulted in his third interception of the game.

Mistakes aside, Sitkowski showed flashes of what he is capable of and if he continues to develop, he can be a major factor in lifting the Scarlet Knights from out of the bottom of the Big Ten.