Ole Miss has named a starting quarterback for its season opener but not necessarily for the rest of the year.
Rebel coach Hugh Freeze said Monday he plans to start junior college transfer Chad Kelly against Tennessee-Martin Saturday, but redshirt sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade would play as well.
However, Freeze insists Kelly’s place atop the depth chart is not “set in stone.”
“I know who’s going to take the first snap. I don’t know who our starter for the season is going to be yet. That competition is still ongoing,” said the Ole Miss coach.
“This week could change my mind, but today in practice Chad is going to take the snaps with the ones. I anticipate that will carry over throughout the week leading up to Saturday, unless something just totally changes my mindset. I expect all three to play. I don’t want to be quoted today that it’s locked in stone. It’s a very close competition. I like all three and all three have different things that they bring.”
Freeze called the competition “close,” and underscored that this did not spell an end to the three-quarterback battle that has been raging since the arrival of Kelly in Oxford last January.
Every move the three quarterbacks have made has been charted since spring practice.
“We have a chart that I look at every day that tracks every single rep that every quarterback has had. We look at pass percentages, turnovers, scoring drives, all of those things. He (Kelly) has a slight edge on the other two,” Freeze said.
“But until you see them play live, you really don’t know, but I’m not stressing too much over this. I think all three can lead us to play well. Which one is going to emerge as the best of them? Time will tell. I’m really not real stressed over that. I like all three. It’s definitely a different feeling than the last few years.”
