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Zack Annexstad was a new man on campus.
A confident, charismatic quarterback arrived to IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. following his sophomore season at Mankato West High School in Minnesota. After attending a football camp at IMG, he and his brother, Brock, decided to pack their bags and attend high school in Florida.
A year later, Zack Annexstad, a 6-foot-3 quarterback was set to make his first start at one of the top football academies in the country. The opponent, Grayson High School, was on the horizon. Annexstad, a junior, earned the Week 1 starting job over senior Kellen Mond, the current starting quarterback at Texas A&M.
Everything was in motion. Annexstad was on the big stage as a junior, with his brother, Brock, playing wide receiver alongside him. However, it all quickly came to a screeching halt. Zack tossed just a few passes before heading to sideline and serving as a backup to Kellen Mond. Annexstad never started another game in 2016.
“I think he kind of realized that you can just kind of control what you can control and you take it one play at a time and you can’t really get too up or too down,” IMG quarterbacks coach Adam Behrends said. “I think he would probably even tell you that, at first, his junior year when he was here, he was probably way too amped up for that game.”
Little did Annexstad know, this was part one of a three-part underdog series. He spent the entire offseason laboring over the fundamentals in hopes he would claim the starting job in 2017. He faced stiff competition from Artur Sitkowski, the current starting quarterback at Rutgers. Behrends watched Annexstad improve throughout the offseason, but once again, he fell short of the starting job.
“I saw a culmination of a whole junior year, his whole offseason, going through the spring and getting better with the team, getting better himself,” Behrends said. “And then all of a sudden, you go into the first week and you end up not starting, that could kind of be like letting the air out of the balloon, kind of burst your bubble a little bit.”
At the time, current IMG Academy quarterbacks coach Adam Behrends was coaching the tight ends. A disappointed Annexstad approached Behrends after the game, upset he was not the starting quarterback.
“I just let him know — I don’t know know when you’re going to get an opportunity,” Behrends said. “It might not be until you’re a junior in college, but you’ll have another opportunity to start a football game somewhere. All you can do is prepare on the way. If you’re just going to be really upset and you pout, and you stop working hard, and you stop being you, it’s not going to change the outcome. So you might as well have a smile on your face and just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Behrends was waiting to see how the young quarterback would respond to the adversity. The next Monday, the coach said Annexstad showed up to practice with a smile on his face and worked hard to improve as a player.
“He came up to me and said, ‘I’m not going to change anything’,” Behrends said. “And I was like, ‘you’re the man.’”
Instead of letting the air get sucked out of a balloon, Annexstad kept his head down and didn’t quit working. At the midway point of the season, IMG coaches eventually decided to make a change at quarterback – it was finally Zack Annexstad’s opportunity. The young quarterback took the chance and ran with it, rallying his teammates to an undefeated season. The one thing that stood out to Behrends and the coaches: Annexstad’s leadership skills.
“I would say that was the biggest thing that separated him is just kind of the way the kids were drawn toward him and willing to go out there for him and the way he could lead and orchestrate everything,” Behrend said.
After throwing for 940 yards and ten touchdowns to close the season, Annexstad received FBS scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Southern Mississippi, Illinois and Pittsburgh, among others. However, he earned a preferred walk-on opportunity at Minnesota. His brother, Brock, already played receiver for the Gophers and his father, Scott, played guard for the Gophers in the early 1980s. Deep down, Behrends knew Zack’s dream school was Minnesota. He also understood how hard head coach P.J. Fleck was recruiting Annexstad.
“Just watching how [Fleck] went after the kids down here and even Zack,” Behrends said. “Zack knew he was going to walk-on there. [P.J.] went after Zack like he was an 18-star kid with every scholarship offer in the world.”
Roughly a week before signing day, Annexstad received an offer from Pittsburgh. Behrends sat down with the quarterback for the next four days and had almost the same conversation. It’s when the coach knew Annexstad wanted to walk-on at Minnesota.
Eventually, Annexstad told Behrends, “I like my fit up at Minnesota. I’ve got friends that are going to go up there now, my brother is there. I want to play football with him…my parents are going to be close to me and I think that’s the best fit.’”
Behrends responded, “if you think that’s the best fit, then I think that’s the best fit, go do your thing.”
And he did just that. Annexstad joined the Gophers and brought two of his closest protectors with him. The quarterback helped convince four-star offensive linemen Daniel Faalele and Curtis Dunlap Jr. to join him at Minnesota. It helped complete two of the biggest commitments Minnesota has landed in recent memory.
“Kids really gravitate to him,” Behrends said. “Minnesota does a really good job recruiting, but for anybody that doesn’t think that Zack didn’t play a part in it, that would be kind of silly.”
At Minnesota, Annexstad continued improving during spring practices and started to gain ground in the race for the starting job.
MORE: http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2018/09/gophers-qb-zack-annexstad-enters-part-three-underdog-story/
A confident, charismatic quarterback arrived to IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL. following his sophomore season at Mankato West High School in Minnesota. After attending a football camp at IMG, he and his brother, Brock, decided to pack their bags and attend high school in Florida.
A year later, Zack Annexstad, a 6-foot-3 quarterback was set to make his first start at one of the top football academies in the country. The opponent, Grayson High School, was on the horizon. Annexstad, a junior, earned the Week 1 starting job over senior Kellen Mond, the current starting quarterback at Texas A&M.
Everything was in motion. Annexstad was on the big stage as a junior, with his brother, Brock, playing wide receiver alongside him. However, it all quickly came to a screeching halt. Zack tossed just a few passes before heading to sideline and serving as a backup to Kellen Mond. Annexstad never started another game in 2016.
“I think he kind of realized that you can just kind of control what you can control and you take it one play at a time and you can’t really get too up or too down,” IMG quarterbacks coach Adam Behrends said. “I think he would probably even tell you that, at first, his junior year when he was here, he was probably way too amped up for that game.”
Little did Annexstad know, this was part one of a three-part underdog series. He spent the entire offseason laboring over the fundamentals in hopes he would claim the starting job in 2017. He faced stiff competition from Artur Sitkowski, the current starting quarterback at Rutgers. Behrends watched Annexstad improve throughout the offseason, but once again, he fell short of the starting job.
“I saw a culmination of a whole junior year, his whole offseason, going through the spring and getting better with the team, getting better himself,” Behrends said. “And then all of a sudden, you go into the first week and you end up not starting, that could kind of be like letting the air out of the balloon, kind of burst your bubble a little bit.”
At the time, current IMG Academy quarterbacks coach Adam Behrends was coaching the tight ends. A disappointed Annexstad approached Behrends after the game, upset he was not the starting quarterback.
“I just let him know — I don’t know know when you’re going to get an opportunity,” Behrends said. “It might not be until you’re a junior in college, but you’ll have another opportunity to start a football game somewhere. All you can do is prepare on the way. If you’re just going to be really upset and you pout, and you stop working hard, and you stop being you, it’s not going to change the outcome. So you might as well have a smile on your face and just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Behrends was waiting to see how the young quarterback would respond to the adversity. The next Monday, the coach said Annexstad showed up to practice with a smile on his face and worked hard to improve as a player.
“He came up to me and said, ‘I’m not going to change anything’,” Behrends said. “And I was like, ‘you’re the man.’”
Instead of letting the air get sucked out of a balloon, Annexstad kept his head down and didn’t quit working. At the midway point of the season, IMG coaches eventually decided to make a change at quarterback – it was finally Zack Annexstad’s opportunity. The young quarterback took the chance and ran with it, rallying his teammates to an undefeated season. The one thing that stood out to Behrends and the coaches: Annexstad’s leadership skills.
“I would say that was the biggest thing that separated him is just kind of the way the kids were drawn toward him and willing to go out there for him and the way he could lead and orchestrate everything,” Behrend said.
After throwing for 940 yards and ten touchdowns to close the season, Annexstad received FBS scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Southern Mississippi, Illinois and Pittsburgh, among others. However, he earned a preferred walk-on opportunity at Minnesota. His brother, Brock, already played receiver for the Gophers and his father, Scott, played guard for the Gophers in the early 1980s. Deep down, Behrends knew Zack’s dream school was Minnesota. He also understood how hard head coach P.J. Fleck was recruiting Annexstad.
“Just watching how [Fleck] went after the kids down here and even Zack,” Behrends said. “Zack knew he was going to walk-on there. [P.J.] went after Zack like he was an 18-star kid with every scholarship offer in the world.”
Roughly a week before signing day, Annexstad received an offer from Pittsburgh. Behrends sat down with the quarterback for the next four days and had almost the same conversation. It’s when the coach knew Annexstad wanted to walk-on at Minnesota.
Eventually, Annexstad told Behrends, “I like my fit up at Minnesota. I’ve got friends that are going to go up there now, my brother is there. I want to play football with him…my parents are going to be close to me and I think that’s the best fit.’”
Behrends responded, “if you think that’s the best fit, then I think that’s the best fit, go do your thing.”
And he did just that. Annexstad joined the Gophers and brought two of his closest protectors with him. The quarterback helped convince four-star offensive linemen Daniel Faalele and Curtis Dunlap Jr. to join him at Minnesota. It helped complete two of the biggest commitments Minnesota has landed in recent memory.
“Kids really gravitate to him,” Behrends said. “Minnesota does a really good job recruiting, but for anybody that doesn’t think that Zack didn’t play a part in it, that would be kind of silly.”
At Minnesota, Annexstad continued improving during spring practices and started to gain ground in the race for the starting job.
MORE: http://www.1500espn.com/gophers-2/2018/09/gophers-qb-zack-annexstad-enters-part-three-underdog-story/
