Rutgers football: Artur Sitkowski shines, but feels disappointment in Scarlet-White performance

PISCATAWAY - Saturday's Scarlet-White Game did not count.

Not only did Rutgers' live scrimmage to close spring practice not count, an unorthodox scoring system led to 264 total points and a 132-all tie. Spring games are, well, spring games, so all statistics should be taken with a rather large grain of salt.

With those qualifiers out of the way, let's zero in on Artur Sitkowski. The four-star early enrollee from IMG Academy, by way of Old Bridge High School, threw for 280 yards and three touchdowns, all to sophomore big-play threat Bo Melton, but also two interceptions. By any measure, Sitkowski helped himself in a quarterback competition that will drag into training camp late this summer.

On the second floor of the Hale Center inside a meeting room, Sitkowski met reporters for the second and final time this spring. There wasn't much of a smile, not even a hint of satisfaction. Surely, Sitkowski had to be pleased with himself after that effort, which, for all intents and purposes, was his introduction to the fan base.

"The way the scoring system worked, two picks equals 12 points for the defense," Sitkowski said sternly, gazing over the reporter scrum at nothing in particular. "If I don't throw those two picks, we win the scrimmage. It was 132-132, tie.

"Can't. we gotta win games here.

Again, this was a scrimmage, and it was against his defensive teammates.

"It was a tie, man," said Sitkowski, again leaving no room for interpretation as to his feelings on his own performance Saturday. "We gotta win. If we don;t win, that's all that matters. We gotta win."

The two interceptions aside, Sitkowski was the star on Saturday. His three touchdowns to Melton included a 75-yard strike on the first play of a drive that surely had the fan base swooning.

That type of big-play ability at quarterback is something Chris Ash has not had in his two years at Rutgers. Chris Laviano didn't have it, nor did Kyle Bolin. Gio Rescigno has never made that throw, which leads us to what comes now, after Sitkowski put a big stamp on spring practice.

Offensive coordinator John McNulty said early in spring practice that he felt he knew where the quarterback situation was headed, but offered little else. Ash has been steadfast that this three-way battle with Rescigno, Sitkowski and Johnathan Lewis would not be decided until training camp.

Ash got a little more specific postgame on Saturday, saying he hopes to get it decided within the first couple of weeks of training camp. Realistically, Ash expects things to be settled by the third week of training camp, which will begin in early August. The Scarlet Knights, 4-8 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten last season, open on Sept. 1 against Texas State.

"He's intelligent, he's got a lot of tools, he studies and works extremely hard, he's got great leadership," Ash said. "He's done a really good job in the couple of months he's been here.

"Like I said already, he made some mistakes out there today that would have cost us a football game, if he were in the game. He has to learn to eliminate those things."

Fair enough, but if you're looking to gauge the fan base and what it thinks at this point, consider the half-hour between the end of the game, and Sitkowski meeting with reporters. After the game, as always, fans had the opportunity to come on the field and get autographs from players.

The line to meet Sitkowski was at least double that of any other player. If you can picture it, the line stretched from where he was seated, up against the wall behind the visiting sideline, all the way to between the R and S in 'RUTGERS' in the south end zone.

Those people waited with their pre-schoolers, waited with posters for Sitkowski to sign, waited with phones in hand to take selfies. Those people are all-in. Those people would name Sitkowski the starter yesterday if they had the power.

Give it four months, folks. Ash just might grant your wish.

Staff Writer Josh Newman: jnewman@app.com; @Joshua_Newman