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North Dakota State backup QB hits his stride
By steve wilaj
youngstown
A couple years ago when he was Nebraska’s head coach, Bo Pelini — despite not really needing a quarterback at the time — scouted a local quarterback playing for Creighton Prep High School in Omaha, Neb.
Pelini tagged the 6-foot-2, 215-pound senior who earned 2013 first-team all-state honors as “a good football player.” But he wasn’t blown away, eventually trying to recruit him to join the Cornhuskers only as a walk-on.
“He kind of played in an offense in high school that didn’t necessarily show all his skills and that type of thing,” Pelini said Tuesday at Youngstown State’s football news conference.
The quarterback’s name is Easton Stick. He went on to sign with North Dakota State.
A couple years after Pelini and Nebraska passed on him, the first-year Youngstown State coach will now try to slow down the redshirt freshman — who has filled in admirably since Bison starter Carson Wentz went down with an injury on Oct. 17 — when no. 2 NDSU visits Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday at 2 p.m.
“It’s obvious he does a nice job,” Pelini said. “I think he’s an outstanding player.”
Wentz, who led NDSU to the past two FCS championship titles, broke his wrist against South Dakota and is out for the rest of the season. That opened the door for Stick, who in three starts has guided the Bison to three victories (including a 59-7 win at Western Illinois last week).
In five appearances this season, the dual-threat QB has rushed for 364 yards (72.8 yards per game), while going 33 of 57 for seven TD’s and 461 yards through the air.
“He’s stepped in very well and I don’t think they’ve limited him at all,” Pelini said. “Maybe they featured different things in the passing game [under Wentz] and maybe they run the ball a little more to take the pressure off of Stick.
“But I think he’s shown that he’s capable of doing whatever they ask him to do.”
NDSU asked Stick to run 17 times at Indiana State on Oct. 24 and he gained 127 yards and scored two touchdowns.
The Bison asked him to run 16 times and pass 17 times on Oct. 31 vs. Southern Illinois — he racked up 130 rushing yards as well as 138 passing yards and two touchdowns on 12 of 17 attempts.
Last week, he tossed four touchdowns and went 12 of 20 for 197 yards while also gaining 86 rushing yards.
So while Stick’s not quite the passer Wentz is (1,454 yards and 16 TD’s in six games before his injury), he is a better runner (8.1 yards per carry).
He also has an impressive passer-efficiency rating of 159.3.
“Wentz, I just think he has a lot of clout with his name and all the respect and attention he gets from all his stats,” defensive tackle Steve Zaborsky said. “But having this other guy [Stick], I think he’s a good player himself and he’s done very well for them.
“He’s taken on the role with Wentz out and done his job.”
Who knows what YSU would be up against this Saturday if Pelini and the Cornhuskers made a more-aggressive effort to land Stick two years ago.
But the fact of the matter is that the Omaha, Neb., QB wears green and yellow now — and he’s certainly no slouch, even compared to Wentz.
“He’s stepped in and managed that offense extremely well,” Pelini said.
“They play well around him. It’s a team game. He’s done his part and the guy’s around him have done their part. They haven’t taken a step back.”