Sitkowski or Vedral will start at quarterback for Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — The Rutgers quarterback competition is down to Nebraska graduate transfer Noah Vedral and redshirt sophomore Art Sitkowski.

In releasing his depth chart Monday, Greg Schiano indicated he probably will not disclose his starter until Saturday when he begins his second coaching stint with the Scarlet Knights with a game at Michigan State.

“There’s a reason why it’s Art and Noah as the ‘or’ because they’ve kind of established themselves as the top two,″ Schiano said in a virtual conference call. “But it’s not a huge drop-off."

There were five players in the running for the quarterback job when training camp started. Redshirt sophomore Johnny Langan, who started the final eight games last season, redshirt freshman Cole Snyder and true freshman Evan Simon did not make the final cut.

Vedral played in six games at Nebraska last season with two starts. Sitkowski started two of three games last season before deciding to take a redshirt season. He started 11 games as a freshman in 2018.

Schiano said he used the word “or” to allow for potential injury or the possibility the coaches have not come to a decision.

“I won’t go into in depth what the odds are. They are what they are,” Schiano said. “We’ll find out at game time.”

Vedral started his career at Central Florida and followed Scott Frost to Nebraska after he took the Cornhuskers' job. He completed 34-of-52 passes for 418 yards. He added 106 yards rushing with three touchdowns last season.

Sitkowski was 44-for-68 passing for 429 yards and a touchdown in his abbreviated season. The New Jersey resident was 134 of 273 for 1,158 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman.

Rutgers fired Chris Ash early last season and posted a 2-10 record. The Big Ten Conference school has won three games the past two years and it has lost 21 straight conference games since beating Maryland in 2017.

Schiano coached Rutgers from 2001-11, taking it to bowl games in six of his final seven seasons. He left to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012 and lasted two seasons in the NFL.

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