Ole Miss practiced for the second time this spring on Tuesday and never has the quarterbacks room looked so good.
There is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate in Trinidad Chambliss.
There appears to be a solid No. 2 in Auburn transfer and George County (Miss.) native Deuce Knight who is every bit of the 6-5, 225 pounds he is listed at on the Rebels’ roster.
Then there is the highly recruited and Mississippi native AJ Maddox and the experienced Walker Howard, who signed with Ole Miss out of high school, transferred to his hometown Louisiana-Lafayette and yet made his way back to the Rebels’ Red and Blue.
There is no doubt Chambliss is the starter. His NIL deal reportedly is over five million dollars.
And we are assuming Knight will win the No. 2 spot. But we asked head coach Peteb Golding what them process…then battle…for the QB2 label will look like this spring.
“Obviously a lot of people are going to focus on that one,” Golding said of the quarterbacks.” But I think you’ve got to develop your roster across the board. That was my big concern from a recruiting standpoint…was the depth at a lot of positions, to where I felt like for the past couple of years I had been here there was drastic between the first guy and the second one. I think that this schedule that we have and going to nine games in the SEC…It’s hard to stay healthy throughout that whole process. Normally it happens toward the end of the year, which are the most important games…Then you don’t have a guy that can play winning football from a skill standpoint in the SEC or the playoffs, and it’s a problem.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and QB Deuce Knight work out.
“Last year this time, nobody in here would have thought our number two going into the season was going to be the starter at the end of the year and had the year that he had. You don’t know. So I think that is the biggest thing for all of our guys. They are preparing every day versus themselves. We’re trying to better our best every day. And we’ve all got room for improvement, whether we’re the starter last year or not.
Golding emphasized that Chambliss is the Rebels’ starter.
“I’m not going to sit here and ‘Oh, there is a real battle.’ Trinidad is our quarterback. Don’t get it twisted. Those guys are working their butts off and obviously it’s a competition. You better have a guy that can play winning football on-deck in case something does happen.”
Translation? Chambliss is the starter, then we’ll see who steps up.
Ole Miss will hold practice No. 3 of the spring on Friday.