Chad Kelly named Ole Miss Rebels starting quarterback
The Ole Miss Rebels will start Chad Kelly at quarterback after he won the three-man quarterback competition.
It’s been a long strange trip to a starting quarterback job for Chad Kelly who began his career at Clemson as a former four-star recruit before being dismissed and rehabbing his stock as the nation’s top junior college quarterback last year and now the starting quarterback for the Ole Miss Rebels.
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Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze named Kell the starter on Monday after edging out Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade, although it is still expected all three signal-callers will play in the Rebels opener against UT-Martin.
Chad Kelly will take the first snap, and that will lead up to Saturday -- unless something changes this week.
— Hugh Kellenberger (@KellenbergerGLF) August 31, 2015
Freeze sounds pretty confident in his ability to win with all three quarterbacks and has played two quarterbacks in the past with Bo Wallace and Barry Brunetti prior to last year when Wallace was the only option under center. Entering the year, the Rebels have SEC championship aspirations, but Freeze isn’t sweating the quarterback position.
Freeze, on QBs: "I'm not stressing too much over it. Which one is going to emerge as the best of them, time will tell."
— Ben Garrett (@SpiritBen) August 31, 2015
Opening against UT-Martin may subject Ole Miss to criticisms from around the SEC or the rest of college football for playing a FCS opponent, but it benefits them greatly because of their quarterback situation. This allows Freeze to play all three of his quarterbacks in a home game against an opponent they should have no trouble beating by 21-plus points.
I expect Kelly to fare well, especially with Laquon Treadwell fully healthy after his season-ending injury last year and the rest of the Rebels receivers giving them one of the best units in the SEC and seeing him named the starter is not a surprise.
Kelly has the talent to be a quality performer and could be the x-factor for the Rebels in their pursuit of an SEC West division title.
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