Kyle McCloskey to start at quarterback for Villanova vs. Elon

Villanova has had its fair share of injuries this season, especially on the offensive side of the ball, where the injury bug has been relentless.

Since redshirt junior signal caller Zach Bednarczyk went down in the Towson game, head coach Mark Ferrante has experimented with two quarterbacks—Jack Schetelich and Kyle McCloskey.

Schetelich had started in the two games since—against Towson and James Madison—but Ferrante announced that he will be going in another direction in Monday’s weekly CAA media teleconference.

“We're probably going to go with Kyle [McCloskey], the guy that finished the game at JMU,” said Ferrante, about who will start in Saturday’s game against Elon. “Give him the opportunity to start the game this week. Jack [Schetelich] has to be on the ready as well. Both young guys, both not overly experienced, but we're going to go with the guy that moved the ball a little better on our last opponent.”

McCloskey got his first taste of collegiate football in the Oct. 14 loss at James Madison. He entered halfway through the James Madison game, in relief of Schetelich. McCloskey completed 2-of-7 pass attempts for 15 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He also had a team-high 43 rushing yards in that game, doing so off of 16 carries.

As for Schetelich, a redshirt freshman, he completed 11-of-37 passes this season (29.7 percent) for 135 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions.

Against the Dukes, Schetelich had 33 yards of total offense and one interception.

“[McCloskey] came in and gave us a spark in the second half, and we're going to ride that a little bit,” Ferrante said.

McCloskey will become the most recent Villanova quarterback to start a game as a true freshman. Chris Polony (2011) and Chris Whitney (2007) were the last couple of Wildcat quarterbacks to do so.

The 6-foot-3, 220 pound quarterback hails from nearby Fort Washington, Pa. and was a two-sport standout at Germantown Academy. He holds the Patriots’ program records for career passing yards, total yards, and touchdowns. McCloskey, who also excelled on the hardwood, was the first Philadelphia area athlete to throw for 3,000 yards in football and score 1,000 points in basketball.

Now, he will be making his first-ever start.

McCloskey and the ‘Cats will have the benefit of coming off of a bye week going into Saturday’s homecoming game against Elon. Kickoff is at 3:30 p.m.