Bonamego names Tony Poljan No. 1 quarterback
Tony Poljan sat on the bench and eyeballed Cooper Rush direct Central Michigan in 2016. Then, he played a couple positions to find chances on the field with Shane Morris under center in 2017.
Now, it's finally Poljan's time.
"Tony Poljan is number one," said CMU coach John Bonamego. "He looks good. He’s made good decisions and is taking care of the football. He’s getting the ball out quicker, really all quarterbacks look better."
Looking back the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Bonamego has only seen progress from Poljan.
Last season, Poljan appeared in all 13 games. He completed 10-of-17 passes for 61 yards, caught five passes for 97 yards and ran 23 times for 110 yards and a touchdown. The 6-foot-7, 225 pounder has ameliorated in every fundamental phase of the game.
"He’s a kid who is always looking to do the extra," Bonamego said. "He just puts an awful lot of time into everything he does. He epitomizes what you want your program to be about in terms of commitment and work ethic."
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chris Ostrowsky detects Poljan as a future top-tier Division I quarterback. Nevertheless, he admits the redshirt sophomore has "a long way to go." He forenamed Poljan as a great worker, committed to his position and extremely coachable.
"We're taking it one day at a time," Ostrowsky said. "Besides being a strong-armed, athletic, tough kid who’s is going to be a consistent leader on and off the field, your ability to process information is so important to playing the position at this level and he continues to grow and get better at it because his work ethic is consistent and it’s every day.”
Poljan's father, Rick, played football with Bonamego at CMU from 1983 to 1986, leading to his son picking the Chippewas over Minnesota, Nebraska, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Michigan State and Toledo.
During his four years at Lansing Catholic High School, Poljan completed 390-of-670 passes for 6,090 yards and 58 touchdown passes.
Bonamego, along with Ostrowsky, have a superb No. 2 signal caller in senior Tommy Lazzaro, even though he has yet to take the field in Mount Pleasant since transferring from Dodge City Community College in Kansas.
Furthermore, redshirt freshman Austin Hergott and true freshman George Pearson have impressed early in fall camp, which started on Aug. 3.
"Austin Hergott has continued to improve," Bonamego said. "Freshman George Pearson is starting to settle into the speed of things and he looks very good as well."
Bonamego credits his offensive coordinator for developing the quarterbacks, even though 2018 will be just Ostrowsky's second year on the Chippewas coaching staff.
"Chris Ostrowsky does a great job of keeping those guys in a balanced position, where to hold the ball, how to get it out quickly and scanning the field," Bonamego said.
