INSIDE THE CHART: Plitt's Leadership Gene

There's a moment when it sets in – the realization that this is actually happening.

It's the moment Cubs manager Sal Martinella looks down the dugout in Rookie of the Year and barks out "Rasenbagger! Warm up. You're going in."

There's a pause before the pitcher's eyebrows jump off his forehead. The gravity of the moment registers.

For Ball State quarterback Drew Plitt, that moment came with Toledo in town October 26, 2017.

"I remember looking up at the scoreboard and seeing my arms and thinking 'geez Drew, you need to get in the weight room. You're tiny!'" Plitt said. "It was a surreal moment."

Plitt began that season as Ball State's fourth string quarterback behind current Vanderbilt starter Riley Neal, Jack Milas and Zack Blair. Neal's season ended after four games and Milas dealt with injuries down the stretch, leading to Blair starting that October night versus the Rockets.

Blair, now the starting QB at Indiana Wesleyan (NAIA), was good. He completed his first three passes, his last for a first down, before he, like Neal, was lost for the season to injury. Enter Plitt.

"I felt small," Plitt remembered. "I felt really small."

But the redshirt freshman played large. None of the remaining games that season were particularly close. The Cardinals averaged fewer than 16 points a game from that point forward, but you could tell there was something there. The rookie, barely 200 pounds and less than two years removed from running a wing-T high school offense, acted like he belonged.

"Things go bad all the time," Plitt said. "You just have to be used to it. Put a smile on your face and move on … [my teammates] saw that I was confident in myself so they were able to believe in me."

That's the reason nobody panicked when Plitt was called upon again for injury relief last season. A sophomore, Plitt made his first start at Toledo (because, symmetry) before again leading the flock on Senior Night against Western Michigan. Plitt wound up completing 80 percent of his throws in the game (best by a MAC quarterback in 2018), leading the Cardinals to an overtime win. The offense scored 42 points in 18 minutes of possession.

"It was just a big confidence booster knowing we can win a close game," Plitt said. "Finishing the deal."

Although it's not like everything was perfect against the Broncos. Plitt threw two interceptions that both led to WMU touchdowns.

"Being able to overcome those and go back in and make plays and win a game," Plitt said. "That was a big confidence booster."

That's who Drew Plitt is, the heartbeat of Ball State's roster. In an age where some teams don't reveal their starting quarterback until the fifth series of the season's second game, Plitt demonstrably took the reins this winter.

"There's no question right now Drew is our number one quarterback," said offensive coordinator Joey Lynch in spring ball.

"I didn't do anything different," Plitt said. "I prepared the same way, the same stuff we'd always done."

But that's the point. He didn't do anything different. He was just Drew and that was good enough.

"My family is very outgoing," Plitt said. His sister, Marie, has logged significant playing time as a freshman for the Ball State volleyball team this fall, exuding many of the same qualities. Plitt's brother played baseball at Xavier while both his parents were athletes and coaches as well.

"We're very personable people," Plitt continued. "We're vocal people and that just transitions well to sports where you're able to be a lot more vocal. It's the instinct, the confidence. I have the confidence that I know I can lead so it comes out naturally … If I feel the need to say something I will. If I don't I won't have to."

What that's led to is a guy ranking fourth nationally in passing this fall, his team's offense is 27th overall. Simply, Ball State's attack has been tough to stop.

"The only people who have stopped us are ourselves," Plitt said, noting some key turnovers. "We know there hasn't been a defense that's been able to stop us yet."

Infuriating? Encouraging?

"Both," Plitt sighed. "The fact that we've beat ourselves up and lost games is infuriating, but we're able to hang our hat on that we know we've been able to go out there and drive the ball on anybody."

The question is if that truth will hold now that Mid-American Conference play has started.

Surely, if you ask Drew Plitt, you can guess his answer.

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