Zack Annexstad (born April 16, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

and

Illinois State Redbirds The Illinois State Redbirds are the athletic teams that represent Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. Teams play at the NCAA Division I level ( FCS in football). Most teams compete in the Missouri Valley Conference except football (M ...

Early life

Annexstad grew up in Norseland, Minnesota, and attended

Mankato West High School Mankato West High School is a public secondary school located in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. According to the school district in 2016, Mankato West enrolls about 1150 students in four grades, grades 9–12.sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of Post-secondary school, post-secondary educatio ...

year at Mankato West, Annexstad was named the football team's starting

but then missed time due to injury. He transferred to

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

in Florida for his final two seasons of high school, taking over the starting job as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

from Artur Sitkowski. He threw for 940 yards and 10

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s while completing 63-of-112 passes, helping the school go undefeated. He opted to play

for the

as a walk-on despite having received offers from other Division I schools.

College career

Annexstad won Minnesota's starting role as a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

in 2018, becoming the first to do so at the

Power Five The power conferences are the most prominent athletic conferences in college football in the United States. They are part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I, the highest level o ...

level since

Baker Mayfield Baker Reagan Mayfield (born April 14, 1995) is an American professional football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Oklahoma Sooners ...

. In his debut, he threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns in a 48–10 win over

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

. He ultimately started seven games, being limited due to injury near the end of the season, and totaled 1,277 passing yards with nine touchdowns to seven

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s while completing 51.9 percent of his passes. Annexstad injured his foot during a practice prior to the 2019 season and missed the entire year. He saw no action in 2020, then appeared in two games in the 2021 season, attempting no passes. Annexstad entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

after the 2021 season. He ultimately transferred to the

and became the starter. In his first year with the team, he became

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and was named

Missouri Valley Football Conference The Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC), formerly the Gateway Football Conference, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate A ...

(MVFC) All-Newcomer as well as MVFC first-team All-Academic. He started eight games before getting injured, ending his year having thrown for 1,691 yards and 11 touchdowns while completing 62.8 percent of his pass attempts; he also had a team-leading four rushing touchdowns. He returned for a final season in 2023 and was chosen honorable mention all-conference, first-team All-MVFC Academic as well as an FCS Academic All-Star. The team captain, he started nine games before missing the rest of the year from injury, ending with a 69.7 completion percentage, 2,114 passing yards and 17 touchdowns along with five interceptions; he placed sixth in the FCS for completions per game and seventh in completion percentage.

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2024 NFL draft The 2024 NFL draft was the 89th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit on April 25–27, 2024. The draft had an attendanc ...

, Annexstad was signed by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. He was waived on August 12, 2024.

Personal life

Annexstad's father, Scott, had stints with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

. He also has a brother, Brock, who played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

with him at both Minnesota and Illinois State. His cousin, Sam Dekker, played in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA).

References

External links

Minnesota Golden Gophers bioIllinois State Redbirds bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Annexstad, Zack 2000 births Living people American football quarterbacks Players of American football from Minnesota People from Nicollet County, Minnesota IMG Academy alumni Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Illinois State Redbirds football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players