Bowling Green State University senior quarterbacks Connor Bazelak and Camden Orth rested injuries during spring practice, so bring on 6-foot-3, 190-pound redshirt freshman Lucian Anderson III.

Anderson took every rep during spring practice, and since Bazelak and Orth both have just one year of eligibility remaining, it gave BGSU fans a chance to see the future when the Falcons opened their final practice to the public Friday at Doyt Perry Stadium.

“Where in the country does one quarterback get every single rep in spring football? It’s great for Lucian,” BGSU football coach Scot Loeffler said.

“Obviously, we would have loved to have Connor and Cam out here, but they are old, they know how to play, and they’ll get back into it,” Loeffler continued.

“Obviously you never want anyone hurt, and that’s where I want to go with this, but it was really a blessing in disguise — it was really good to get Lucian all this experience. He did a great job handling it.

“He’s night and day compared to where he’s been — very talented, very fast, still a count behind in some progressions, a count behind with his footwork but he’s made great strides and hopefully we can get him to take another step and just keep developing him.”

In good hands

All three quarterbacks are in good hands. Over his career, Loeffler has coached eight quarterbacks who went on to play in the NFL – Tom Brady, Tim Tebow, Brian Griese, Chad Henne, Drew Henson, John Navarre, Logan Thomas and Anthony Brown. Those eight quarterbacks have won a combined 10 Super Bowl championships.

Anderson who threw for 3,294 yards and 28 touchdowns while rushing for 936 yards and 19 scores during his career at Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, believes he took “huge strides” in a “positive direction” during the spring session.

“I felt like the tempo of the game got a lot easier for me,” Anderson said. “Coming in as a freshman, the game is a lot faster at the Division I level, so getting used to that is one of the main parts at quarterback and I felt like for me that was one of the main things I was getting used to throughout the spring.”

Last year Bazelak, who started 11 of BGSU’s 13 games, finished with 1,935 yards passing and 12 touchdowns. He threw just one interception over his last 151 passes of the season. However, what Anderson brings is mobility inside and outside the pocket.

“He’s a different quarterback than Cam and Connor,” said senior offensive tackle Alex Wollschlaeger. “He’s a lot faster than them, so that will help out with the RPO options a lot more.

“He’s great, he’s developing, and does nothing but good things. He is a young guy and he is going to be a great player,” Wollschlaeger added.

How fast is he?

Loeffler and Anderson’s teammates say the young quarterback is not only fast, “he’s real fast,” says Loeffler. Ask Anderson where his speed comes from, and he doesn’t have an answer.

“To be honest, I really don’t know,” Anderson said. “I never ran track and I felt like I was never really fast until my senior of high school. I ran the 40 and it was pretty fast and after that I’ve been trying to get faster ever since then.”

Anderson admits when he found out he was going to be “the man” taking signals during spring practice, his nerves were on edge, at first. But then the team “rallied behind him,” he said.

“I feel like they’ve taken me in a whole lot,” Anderson said. “They know that personally I was going to be nervous, I was going to be shaky taking on this role to begin with, and they brought me in, they gave me confidence, and they protected me, which I like the best. Those are my guys.”

And, he is figuring out the college game, which is far more complex than the high school game.

“I feel like I’ve developed a lot in knowing defense — like what the defensive coverages mean and what the rotations mean and things like that,” Anderson said.

“Those are things I did not know in high school because in high school people normally run like two different coverages, but here it’s a lot different. You’ll see everything.

“Once you get used to that, you start knowing where to go with the ball and I felt like I started getting better at that. I’m still far from where I want to be though.

“The biggest thing I’ll take away from this spring is the preparation that it takes to be able to go out and execute at a high level. I felt like I tried to prepare as much as I could before every practice, every meeting and things like that.”

Learning from his peers

Anderson says he has been learning from Bazelak and Orth ever since he arrived on campus.

“I’ve learned a lot about their leadership from being here,” Anderson said. “Before I wasn’t much of a vocal leader at all, and I’m still trying to get better at it.

“I’m not where I want to be with it, but their leadership is really good and they’ve shown me what it takes to be a Division I college quarterback.”

Bazelak and Orth are expected to share QB duties again this year, so Loeffler doesn’t want Anderson worrying about depth charts or his chances of getting playing time, yet.

“Lucian doesn’t need to worry about any of that right now,” Loeffler said. “He needs to worry about getting better and that has just been his approach every day.

“He doesn’t need to be worried about one, two, three, four (on depth chart), he needs to be worried about improvement, and all the processes that it takes to be a good quarterback. It will all take care of itself from there on out. You just have to do the process well, really well.”

However, his teammates are hoping he will see some packages on the field this fall, as long as it is not because of injuries to his teammates.

Last year he did appear in three games, making his collegiate debut against Akron, where he rushed four times for 13 yards.

“We love Lucian. Lucian is a great person,” junior running back Terion Stewart said. “I hope he gets some playing time this year. I really do because he’s a great player, he worked his butt off — that is the only QB we have right now so he’s doing a great job.”

Anderson says if that happens, for whatever reason, he plans to be prepared.

“I hope so, but you never know. If I’m not, I’ll be fine,” Anderson said. “I want to keep developing and just do the best I can to help the team.

“I feel like I just have to take it the same way I took spring ball — try to prepare as much as I can, come out here and get extra work and try to make sure the team believes in me that we are all together as a team even though something has happened like that.”