How is the Ole Miss Quarterback Battle Shaping Up Early in Camp?
Ole Miss opened training camp on Monday, and there's already growing clarity on how the quarterback battle is shaping up.
Unsurprisingly, there seems to be a large gap between the group of Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee and then everyone else on the roster at quarterback.
Corral and Plumlee evenly split first and second team reps in todays opener of training camp. Coach Lane Kiffin said that all five quarterbacks on roster got snaps on Monday, but also made it seem like the battle for the third string job will be shaping up between redshirt freshman Grant Tisdale and true freshman Kade Renfro.
As for when they will make a decision, the shorter camp and lack of spring ball doesn't seem to impact that.
"We don't ever put deadlines on those things. They answer themselves in a couple of days sometimes and they answer not until a couple of weeks into the season sometimes," Kiffin said. "We don't want to put a deadline because that forces you to make a decision, and sometimes that's the wrong decision, especially having missed spring ball. I would think the decision will come a little later."
It shouldn't be a huge surprise that Corral and Plumlee have a larger leg up on the rest of the quarterback competition at Ole Miss – they're the only ones with true experience. Despite a small backing for Tisdale (a talented four-star recruit from a top high school program and Texas) and Renfro (Kiffin's hand-picked guy), they're going to have to truly wow coaches to make an impact.
Coaches in Zoom interviews today didn't rule out the possibility of starting the season with a two quarterback approach, similar to the one they went with one year ago with Plumlee and Corral. They also admitted to needing to tailor the playbook to fit the strengths of each, depending on who is in the game.
Don't wait on pins and needles for an answer at quarterback. But you can be fairly confident it will be Corral or Plumlee.
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