Artur Sitkowski out to earn a Florida scholarship

The Florida Gators held its first ever Next Level Quarterback Camp on Thursday night, which will continue on into Friday, with a star-studded list of quarterback coaches and attendees.

Among the quarterbacks in attendance on Thursday was Artur Sitkowski (6-4, 215 Old Bridge High School, New Jersey), who stood out among the talented group of passers.

McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier brought in heralded quarterback coaches George Whitfield, Quincy Avery, David Morris, Lavelle Durant and Eric Kresser, creating an opportunity too good to pass up for the New Jersey native.

“I learned so much from these coaches today,” Sitkowski said. “Coach Nuss, Coach McElwain, Coach Whitfield, just the staff that they assembled for this camp is second to none. It’s an incredible experience.”

Sitkowski currently holds offers from Michigan, Ohio State, North Carolina, South Carolina and Miami, to name a few. He doesn’t, however, hold a scholarship offer from the Florida Gators, which is why he chose to come to Gainesville and go through the two-day camp. Quarterbacks with a high profile don’t often want to go to individual camps to earn scholarship offers by working out, but Sitkowski isn’t one to shy away from hard work.

“My parents have instilled in me from a young age that you have to work hard for everything in life,” he told Gator Country. “If something is given to you in life it’s not worth it. You have to work hard for things that you want in life.”

So Sitkowski worked. He went through drills for hours and even when camp was done, he wanted to continue picking the coaching staff’s brain. Before his interview he walked over to Coach Durant and the two went over his seven-step drop. Sitkowski asked questions, went through his drop and made sure he knew exactly what the coach wanted from him before saying thanks and promising to work on it that night so it would be better on Friday.

The coaching staff paid close attention to every throw Sitkowski made on Thursday. They’ll continue to monitor him closely on Friday when Friday Night Lights kicks off. The Gators have their quarterback for the 2017 recruiting cycle but are still looking for one in the 2018 class. Sitkowski holds offers from some of the premier Division I football programs across the country, but getting an offer from Florida is still on his mind.

“I think it would be huge for me because Florida is a school that I have family in (Tampa). My aunt is a season ticket holder, so it would be huge for me,” he said. “My aunt is a Gator fan and I grew up with a little soft spot for the Gators. It would be huge, it really would be huge.”

Only a rising junior, there is plenty of time to make a final decision but the criteria of what he’s looking for in a university is clear.

“One is academics. Two is system, what type of system, offensive system they run. Three is how I feel on the university, how comfortable I am.,” he said of what he’s looking for in a school. “If I were not to play football would I still want to be a student there?”

This wasn’t the first time Sitkowski has been to Gainesville. He was at the 2013 Florida-Florida State game in Gainesville and called the atmosphere in the Swamp insane. Florida made him feel comfortable on Thursday and the Gators joined a list of Miami, South Carolina, Ohio State, North Carolina and Miami that Sitkowski thinks he could see himself playing football and being a student at in two years.

“I could really see myself going to class here, being a student here and playing football here at the University of Florida,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest thing, I could only say now that there are a few schools I could actually see myself being a football player at, going to class and playing football and one of them is Florida.”

He came to Florida with his mindset on earning a scholarship offer. That would get the Gators into the race, but currently South Carolina, Michigan and Ohio State are recruiting the quarterback the hardest. Florida does, however, have a little help from the family.

“My aunt is pulling for the Gators, she wants to see me more often,” he said smiling. “She’s pulling for me to come down to Florida. You look good in that orange and blue, that’s what she’s telling me.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

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