For a true freshman coming into a college football program, everything can be a bit overwhelming. That goes double for a quarterback, the most difficult position on the field.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said quarterback Austin Novosad handled himself and his situation as well as can be expected.
“He completed his very first ball. I want to go back and watch the rest of his performance, but I thought he was calm, cool and collected,” Lanning said of his possible future starting signal caller.
The Ducks threw Novosad into the deep end of the pool. Ultimately he was 2-of-8 for nine yards, but stats is the last thing the coaching staff will be looking at. Oregon wasn’t going to have Novosad hand it off on every down. It also helps to have a play-caller that is pretty good at airing it out.
“That first series he went out there, I don’t know if you guys realize this, but Marcus (Mariota) was calling the plays for that series. Marcus wanted to throw it every down,” Lanning said. “So I’m sure Austin was fired up about that. But I thought when I saw him, Austin is what we’ve seen all spring. He’s picking it up. He’s starting to grasp it.”
Everyone’s career has to start somewhere and Novosad’s career began on Saturday.
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