Freeze says Chad Kelly will take the snaps at starting QB this week

In his weekly press conference Monday, Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze said he has made a decision–for now–about who his starting quarterback will be, and that is JUCO transfer Chad Kelly.

Freeze told reporters that Kelly will take the snaps with the ones this week; however, Freeze also added: “But I don’t know who our starter for the season will be yet.”

Kelly is a redshirt junior who last played for East Mississippi Community College. Freeze indicated that the competition between Kelly and and redshirt sophomores Ryan Buchanan and DeVante Kincade is very close, and all three quarterbacks are expected to play against UT-Martin Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway.

Freeze also indicated that all three competed very well last week–with two of the three signal-callers having their best week last week. The Rebels’ head coach made it clear he does not want to be quoted that the QB battle is “locked in stone,” because it is not. He said he had looked at charts of  “pass percentages, turnovers, and scoring drives” and Chad “has a slight lead on the other two.”

Whatever happens at the QB position the remainder of the season, Freeze said he is “not stressed” about the situation, for he has three talented players from which to choose. He also said he is likely going to have packages for the quarterbacks who are not the starters.

Ole Miss and UT-Martin will kickoff at 11:00 am this Saturday in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.

(Feature image credit: Joshua McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)

Evelyn Van Pelt

Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.