Southern Illinois senior quarterback Nic Baker was named to the preseason Missouri Valley Football Conference team Tuesday. (Photo by SIUSalukis.com)
By Dan Verdun
If you’re looking for experience-laden quarterback play this fall, look no further than the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The 12-team league – looked upon by many as the top FCS conference in the country – boasts a bevy of top-notch QBs.
Nine of the schools return players who not only took the majority of their team’s snaps a season ago, but also are clear-cut QB1s. Moreover, it isn’t just the sheer number, it’s the quality.
Patty Viverito is beginning her 39th year as MVFC commissioner. She was asked during Tuesday’s league media day if she could recall seeing a collection of quarterbacks this deep and talented coming into a season.
“Probably not,” Viverito chuckled and then turned the question on Mike Kern, associate commissioner for 33 years.
“There are a lot of non-recognized quarterbacks that could be first team (all conference) anywhere else,” Kern added.
Presason picks
Tuesday’s release of the preseason all-MVFC teams lists South Dakota State’s Mark Gronowski as the first-team QB.
“We’re excited that we’ve got a good one. He’s probably our best leader on our entire football team,” SDSU head coach Jimmy Rodgers said of Gronowski, a graduate of Naperville’s Neuqua Valley High School.
Gronowski, a junior who redshirted from an injury suffered in the spring 2021 FCS national championship game as a freshman, returns after leading South Dakota State to last year’s national title.
Gronowski won Most Outstanding Player honors in the national championship game, completing 14-of-21 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns against rival North Dakota State. He also rushed for 57 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the third quarter.
Rodgers takes over the SDSU program following the retirement of longtime head coach John Stiegelmeier, who ended his career with the Jackrabbits’ first national crown.
Rodgers sees a strong caliber of QBs outside of Brookings.
“It’s extremely high,” he said. “This is one of the most competitive years as far as having quarterbacks in the Missouri Valley. I’ve been with the program 18 years, and overall this is a really, really high level of talent that the quarterback play is at right now.”
Northern Iowa redshirt senior Theo Day was selected as the preseason second-team quarterback.
Longtime UNI head coach Mark Farley said Day – last year’s first team All-MVFC quarterback – ranks among the best Panther greats he’s seen.
“As a thrower, as an athlete and all of the things that you can measure, he’s as good as I’ve had,” said Farley, who begins his 23rd year at the UNI helm.
“He’s got the height. He’s a 6-(foot)-5, 6-6 guy who has great vision. He’s got a super strong arm. He can run, very agile,” Farley said. “(He’s) very committed to what he does off the field. Very intelligent.”
Farley saw Day – who began his collegiate career at Michigan State – make marked improvement last season.
“I think what he needed the most is the confidence, and the only way you gain confidence is by experience,” Farley said. “And through his experience and through his play, he’s catapulted to the top quarterback that I’ve had.”
Farley drew comparisons between Day and former UNI quarterback Eric Sanders (2004-07) “because of his intangibles.”
Sanders, later a Northern Iowa assistant coach, guided the Panthers to a record of 35-9 as a starter.
“Having presence as a quarterback probably carries more weight to your production than maybe the physical part does,” Farley said. “And what Theo’s challenge is this year is to show those intangibles.”
A Baker’s half dozen
Nic Baker (Southern Illinois) and Tommy Schuster (North Dakota) shared honorable mentions on the MVFC preseason team.
SIU head coach Nick Hill noted that Baker, a sixth-year redshirt senior, owns wins against every Missouri Valley opponent.
“So when you’ve got a signal caller that has won against everybody we’re going to line up to play, he’s going to go out there and do it and keep getting better,” Hill said.
A former all-conference Saluki quarterback himself, Hill defined the importance of lining up behind center.
“It starts with playing well at that position by taking care of the ball,” Hill said. Baker is poised to “own every record at SIU as far as passing records go.”
The coach and player have bonded since the days Hill recruited the 5-foot-8 Baker out of downstate Rochester High School.
“I’m excited for him. I want him to enjoy it,” Hill said of Baker’s last season. “You don’t have to tell Nic anything about winning or what’s important . . . what gets Nic Baker going is winning.”
Baker quarterbacked Rochester to two state high school championships. He’s led SIU to the FCS playoffs, and he helped engineer the Salukis’ win at Northwestern last season.
“It really tears him up to lose,” Hill said. “He’s passed for 400 yards in a game, and we lose and there’s tears in his eyes.”
Beyond the preseason recognition tally, the MVFC quarterback list is littered with solid players.
Illinois State returns Zack Annexstad, a transfer from the University of Minnesota a year ago.
Annexstad, listed at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, missed the final three games last season with a throwing shoulder injury.
The 23-year-old senior completed 63 percent of his passes (162 of 258) for 1,691 yards and 11 touchdowns last fall. He threw seven interceptions.
Other returning MVFC quarterbacks with starting experience include: Aidan Bouman (South Dakota), Cade Chambers (Indiana State), Cam Miller (North Dakota State) and Mitch Davidson (Youngstown State).
News & notes: Former Western Illinois and current South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson said the most difficult position to fill in college football is backup quarterback because “no one wants to be the backup quarterback” in this transfer portal era. … Western Illinois head coach Myers Hendrickson sees an open competition between returning QB Clay Bruno – like SIU’s Baker, also a former Rochester star – and transfers Matt Morrissey (Northern Iowa) and Nathan Lamb (College of Sequoias). … Davidson engineered late-game comeback wins against Illinois State, SIU and WIU in 2022.
Missouri Valley Football 2023 Preseason Poll (1st place votes) Total points
- SOUTH DAKOTA STATE (44) ………………539
- NORTH DAKOTA STATE (1)………………..492
- NORTHERN IOWA……………………………..409
- NORTH DAKOTA………………………………..399
- SOUTHERN ILLINOIS…………………………337
- YOUNGSTOWN STATE………………………323
- ILLINOIS STATE…………………………………269
- MISSOURI STATE………………………………229
- SOUTH DAKOTA ……………………………….226
- INDIANA STATE………………………………..148
- MURRAY STATE …………………………………74
- WESTERN ILLINOIS……………………………65
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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