Wide receiver Daniel Sobkowicz needs only two catches to match his career high of 31 set last season. He has already surpassed his career high in receiving yards and matched his touchdown total of a year ago. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Barry Bottino
NORMAL – Zack Annexstad arrived at Illinois State as a transfer quarterback from a Big Ten Conference program.
His leading receiver this season – sophomore Daniel Sobkowicz, a Rolling Meadows High School graduate — came to the Redbirds as a walk-on.
“I always give him crap because when I first got here, he was he was probably the (third-string or fourth-string) outside receiver,” Annexstad said Saturday after ISU’s 41-20 loss to No. 1 South Dakota State. “I don’t think I threw him a ball until our last training camp, and I’d already been here for a year.
“I don’t think I talked to him much. He’s a pretty quiet kid,” Annexstad said.
Through five games this season, the two have shown how much they’ve honed their connection.
The 6-foot-3 Sobkowicz, who became a starter last season, caught seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown Saturday at Hancock Stadium. This season, Sobkowicz ranks third in the Missouri Valley Football Conference with 85 receiving yards per game.
He has surpassed his career high in receiving yards with 425 and already matched his touchdown total of three from last season with a 7-yard TD reception Saturday.
Sobkowicz needs only three receptions to surpass his 31 catches from a year ago.
“I’m very proud of him,” ISU head coach Brock Spack said. “He’s hung in there. He could’ve left and wanted the ball more. He’s showed a lot of toughness.”
The Annexstad-Sobkowicz connection provided ISU with nearly 45% of the quarterback’s 162 passing yards Saturday.
“That’s going to bode well as we move down through our schedule,” Spack said.
In the second quarter, Sobkowicz provided a highlight catch by leaping to make a 21-yard reception along the north sideline on a third-down-and-7 play.
“I count on him to make those big plays,” Annexstad said. “That’s why I give him a chance. I count on him to make those big catches whenever I put the ball in his area.”
On ISU’s first scoring drive, which came early in the second quarter, Sobkowicz took a pitch from running back Cole Mueller around right end and delivered a 9-yard touchdown pass to Annexstad on a third-down play.
“That definitely felt really good,” Sobkowicz said of his first career passing touchdown. “We were practicing it all week. I knew I was going to have to get the ball out quick because there was going to be a rusher who was free.”
Though Sobkowicz took a hit on the play, he appreciated the result.
“I took one to the knee, but it felt good afterward,” he joked. “Luckily, Zack made the catch.”
Annexstad also has increasingly relied this season on 5-10 redshirt freshman receiver Eddie Kasper, who is the Redbirds’ second-leading receiver with 26 catches. On Saturday, he made a game-high eight receptions as ISU effectively used its short passing game to extend drives.
“He’s undersized, but his shiftiness makes up for it,” Annexstad said. “And, his football smarts makes up for it. I like to watch what he does after he gets the ball in his hands.”
Spack said both Sobkowicz and Kasper started their careers on the same path.
“Our two best receivers right now are former walk-on players,” he said. “I was pretty pleased with the receivers and how hard they competed (Saturday).”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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