;It’s hard to miss incoming freshman quarterback Blake Frohnapfel. If the red jersey doesn’t give him away then his 6’5” frame just might do the trick. Frohnapfel is among the freshmen beginning their first preseason camp as a college football player, however, unlike some freshmen, Frohnapfel could fight for playing time with the starting quarterback job wide open.
Frohnapfel, though, is a little bit behind the 8-ball compared to fellow freshman quarterback Rakeem Cato. At Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Virginia, Frohnapfel ran a much different system than he is trying to learn at Marshall.
“Coach, he liked to run the ball,” Frohnapfel said about his high school offense. The offensive style Frohnapfel is used to is much more similar to a pro style offense and now he is getting a crash course in the spread.
“I feel like every day I’m getting more and more used to it,” Frohnapfel said after his second day of workouts. “Hopefully in a couple of weeks I’ll be a fully functioning quarterback,”
In addition to learning the offense, Frohnapfel is also learning technique is a much bigger issue at the college level. Quarterbacks coach Tony Peterson is constantly remind Frohnapfel, and Cato for that matter, about keeping the ball tight and being aware of their footwork. The little things that Frohnapfel could get away with against high school opponents, he won’t be able to get away with any more.
“Coach Peterson says every play there’s something I can work on,” remarked Frohnapfel.
The young quarterback is confident he’ll pick up the system and continue to improve. It doesn’t matter if the offensive scheme relies heavily on the run or the pass he says one thing stays the same.
“It’s still football and if you can play you can play and if you can’t you can’t. I’ll get used to it.”