Open Mississippi State QB Battle Continues In Fall Scrimmage, Will Rogers and Chance Lovertich Continue to Be in Front
Mississippi State has yet to name a starting quarterback, now three weeks ahead of the season opener against LA Tech.
It's been a competitive battle for the starting gig at this point, with head coach Mike Leach recently indicating that South Alabama transfer Chance Lovertich and sophomore Will Rogers are the two frontrunners.
Both quarterbacks saw action in the team's fall scrimmage, with Rogers completing 11-of-20 passes for 79 yards and one touchdown to wide receiver Jaden Walley.
Lovertich was good for 19-of-30 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown to wideout Austin Williams.
Outside of those two, true freshman Sawyer Robertson, who has come up in the Air Raid and has shown lots of promise, completed 6-of-8 passing attempts for 52 yards and a single touchdown to wide receiver Teddy Knox.
Daniel Greek, who appears to have faltered after showing flashes in the spring, connected on 5-of-8 passes for 63 yards with two interceptions.
When asked about Robertson, Leach expressed that he had seen some positives but sees room for him to grow mentally.
"I think (he's come) pretty far," Leach said. "We’d like him further, but he throws a good ball. He’s just got to get to where he processes quicker. "
In terms of experience within the offense and performance throughout camp, it's certainly tight, but Rogers seems to have the slight edge over the South Alabama transfer looking at the situation overall.
In addition to some of the development he's shown as a passer, though he still looks rattled under pressure sometimes, Rogers has also shown good ability to evade pressure and mobility.
Lovertich hasn't showcased that quite as much in what we've seen, but may have the best arm in the MSU quarterback room.
Just using stats from the team period in the previous day of practice, it's easy to tell how close it's really been. On Friday, Rogers was 9-of-12 with one touchdown, while Lovertich was 12-of-13 with a touchdown.
In another day of fall camp, Rogers was 10-of-11 while Lovertich was 10-of-14.
Leach shared his thoughts on Rogers after Saturday's scrimmage, calling the quarterback "a little up and down."
Rogers has played mostly well throughout camp and has largely shown good control over the offense to this point in his college career, but he's also made a handful of bad decisions.
There was some of the same on Saturday.
"I thought several times really good, then we had some dropped balls or sacks that cost the whole unit," Leach said. "Collectively, I thought he did pretty good. There’s definitely a play or two he wants back. He took care of the ball. I like him to find his way out of some of those sacks his own self not just the O-line. Obviously, the protection was suspect there. I think some of these guys gotta get tougher. Some think they’re better than they are. We gotta get that out of them."
As for Lovertich, who has emerged much more than any of us could have expected, Leach seemed satisfied overall.
"I think he’s had a good camp," Leach said. "I think he continues to improve. One thing is, he’ll pull the trigger. That helps him when he’s got his eyes in the right place and making good choices."
It will be interesting to see who we see at the helm on Sept. 4, but as Leach has put it several times, the offense continues to be a work in progress and both signal-callers are steadily getting better.
