Mike Stephans

Mike Stephans was an American football player for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights. He was the team's starting quarterback in 1996.

College

Stephans was from Morristown, New Jersey.[1] He played both baseball and football.[2] As a football player, he was a quarterback and played 3rd baseman on the baseball diamond.[3]

He started the season as the third-string quarterback behind Corey Valentine and Ralph Sacca.[4] During the first Rutgers game, a win over Villanova, Stephans played in the second half and completed two of four passes for 29 yards. He also had one rushing touchdown.[1] The following week against Navy, he again received some playing time in the second half; he was 2 for 6 passing for 29 yards, and the Scarlet Knights lost.[4]

Before the third game against #10 ranked Miami, Rutgers coach Terry Shea announced that Stephans would be the starter.[3][4] "Mike has a strong arm and is just what the team needs to have," said Shea. "He's probably the most gifted of our three passers, but he's had no chance."[4] It was Stephans' first collegiate start, and he completed 12 of 20 passes with two interceptions in a 33–0 loss.[3][5]

Stephans continued to see action during the next few games. On October 12, he was 16 for 24 passing with 246 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to Army.[6] However, in a game against Boston College, Stephans broke his left thumb and missed some time the rest of the year because of that.[7][8]

Overall, Stephans finished the 1996 season with 1981 passing yards and 8 touchdowns.[6] He led the Scarlet Knights in both passing yards and total offense. In all, Stephans played three seasons with the Scarlet Knights after transferring from the University of Tennessee.[9]

References
  1. Cavanaugh, Jack. "Rutgers's Bad Start Becomes a Victory". nytimes.com. September 1, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  2. Wallace, William N. "Lowly Rutgers No Match for Miami". nytimes.com. September 13, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  3. "Ferguson, Green to Return for MU". Lakeland Ledger. September 11, 1996.
  4. Tatum, Kevin. "Rutgers Gives Third-String QB Starting Job". articles.philly.com. September 10, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  5. Cyphers, Luke. "Canes Blow Out Rutgers". articles.nydailynews.com. September 13, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  6. Boyles, Bob and Guido, Paul (2007). 50 Years of College Football. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. pp. 584–1156.
  7. Robbins, Lenn. "Rutgers QB a Maybe". highbeam.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  8. Mallozzi, Vincent M. "Rutgers Self-Destructs Early and Often". nytimes.com. November 10, 1996. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  9. "Rutgers Football Year-by-Year Leaders" Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine. scarletknights.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.