One of the quarterback battles coming into this season has now been decided in an unfortunate way. On Saturday, Minnesota announced that quarterback Zack Annexstad was going to be out for an indefinite amount of time after going down with a foot injury on Friday.
#Gophers sophomore quarterback Zack Annexstad out indefinitely after suffering a foot injury in practice on Aug. 2. https://t.co/Il8emBNX2E pic.twitter.com/WZVSh2Uxis
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) August 3, 2019
There are no additional details as to the specifics of Zack Annexstad’s foot injury, but PJ Fleck was certainly bummed out by the news. Minnesota’s coach said:
“Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game, and we feel terrible for Zack. He worked extremely hard in the spring and summer to put himself in position to compete for the starting job, and I know he will recover from this setback to be even stronger. Zack is an elite teammate and person, and I look forward to him being an important part of the team as a leader while he is recovering.”
Annexstad was Minnesota’s starter at the beginning of last season despite being a true freshman. He played the first seven games of the season before an injury against Nebraska ended his campaign. He left late in the first half with what was described as an “internal midsection injury” and was briefly hospitalized as a result of the injury.
Annexstad finished last year with solid numbers for a freshman. He completed 51.9 percent of his passes and threw for 1277 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions through the air.
He was supposed to compete with junior Tanner Morgan for the starting job headed into the 2019 campaign. Morgan replaced Annexstad last year and led the Golden Gophers to their first win over Wisconsin since 2003 and capped off the year with a Quick Lane Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.
Morgan had similar numbers to Annexstad, but he averaged 9.2 yards per attempt compared to 6.8 yards per attempt for Annexstad. With this news, Morgan is likely to be the starter against FCS power South Dakota State at the start of the year.
H/T ESPN
