[ad_1]
The injured right knee Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered in Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts leaves one question for fans: Who the heck is Athan Kaliakmanis?
Kaliakmanis, who replaced Mariota, is a rookie from Rutgers. He was a bit of a surprise selection in the seventh round by the Commanders, who already had Sam Hartman as a third-string option in-house.
But Kaliakmanis clearly beat out Hartman during action in three preseason games. He completed 24 of 37 passes for 294 yards with no touchdowns and — more importantly — no interceptions.
“Athan, we really just loved his arm talent, his moxie, his competitiveness,” Commanders general manager Adam Peters said at the end of training camp. “That’s what we saw on tape, and those are a lot of things you saw on the preseason tape.
“And just the way he could extend plays and made some plays under pressure, also standing in the pocket, making big-time throws. He made a lot of really big-time throws in the preseason, and that was something that we were really pleased to see. And he’s not afraid to rip it.”
Kaliakmanis, 23, grew up in Antioch, Ill., and originally played at Minnesota, where he redshirted as a freshman. He became the Golden Gophers’ starter in 2023 as a redshirt sophomore and completed 53.1 percent of his passes for 1,838 yards with 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions over 12 games.
After that season, he transferred to Rutgers, where his brother Dino, a wide receiver, had also transferred. In two seasons as the Scarlet Knights’ starter, Kaliakmanis completed 57.9 percent of his throws for 5,820 yards with 38 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
When he arrived in Washington, Kaliakmanis — like all of the Commanders’ offensive players — had to learn the offense being installed by new coordinator David Blough. It didn’t always go smoothly.
“When Athan first got here, for example, he came from an offense where they looked to the sideline, they signaled, and he went like this,” Blough said during training camp, clapping his hands together. “And I was telling my wife, I was like, ‘He was really struggling with some of the plays at the beginning.’ And I said, ‘It’s like he’s speaking a new language.’ And she was like, ‘No, it’s like he’s learning how to speak.’”
How long Kaliakmanis will have to serve as the Commanders’ quarterback remains to be seen. Starter Jayden Daniels, who has missed the past two-and-a-half games after suffering a dislocated left elbow in Week 2 at Dallas, practiced all week in London before coach Dan Quinn declared him out on Friday. The widespread expectation is that Daniels will be healthy enough to start in Week 5 at home against the New York Giants.
In the first half against the Colts, Kaliakmanis completed 6 of 12 throws for just 33 yards. Prior to taking his first NFL snap, he had already ingratiated himself to the Commanders
“He’s funny,” Daniels said following a preseason game against Detroit. “He’s got a lot of personality. He’s going to go out there and he makes throws, man.”
The fact that Kaliakmanis took a couple of hard shots from Colts defenders brings up one final question: Who would Washington’s quarterback be should Kaliakmanis get hurt? With Hartman only on the practice squad, that would be backup tight end Colson Yankoff.
[ad_2]
Source link
