Aug. 26—STARKVILLE —Mike Leach all but announced his starting quarterback Wednesday with 10 days to go until Mississippi State’s regular season opener against Louisiana Tech.
“If we were to play today, it would be Will (Rogers),” Leach said.
He added it’s hard to tell if that decision will change before gameday.
South Alabama transfer Chance Lovertich was the top guy competing with his roommate. Southern Miss transfer Jack Abraham was expected to be the most likely candidate to compete with the incumbent Rogers heading into the season, but he has been unavailable in fall camp.
Rogers stepped in as a true freshman last season when injuries and ineffective play derailed K.J. Costello’s previously promising start to the season — an SEC record 623 passing yards in a win over then-No. 6 LSU.
Rogers showed flashes of what he could bring as a starter in the SEC. He threw for 336 and 440 yards in consecutive weeks in roads losses against Georgia and Ole Miss, respectively — making him the first MSU freshman with multiple 300-yard passing games.
But like any young quarterback in the Air Raid offense, he was inconsistent.
He had multi-interception games against Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn. Following his breakthrough performance against Ole Miss, he had two consecutive weeks with a completion percentage below 60.
The fall camp takeaways from Leach give the sense some of that has been cleaned up with reps.
“He’s a very committed guy as far as watching film and has thrown with these guys more than anybody else — although it hasn’t been as much as once you get a really established situation,” Leach said. “He provides more consistency.”
Leach said throughout most of the offseason he’d like to narrow down the starting spot as soon as possible in order to give the starter more reps with the first team.
Rogers has gotten nearly all the first-team reps in fall camp, including the team’s second scrimmage in which he earned an extra drive.
This week served as mock game week in which MSU shortened its practices to replicate more of what the team will see once games begin, and narrowing a two-deep depth chart was a highlight this week.
Rogers’ teammates have referred to him as a natural leader throughout camp. He’s been vocal at the line of scrimmage and been the first to smack talk his own defense.
Now the attention turns to whether he gets complacent with being the starter or if Rogers will continue to improve many areas Leach feels can still be better.
“The biggest thing is polishing up — getting his eyes in the right place, get the ball out as soon as he possibly can and good pocket presence,” Leach said. “…The good news is there’s not one glaring thing, but everybody can sharpen up on all the little things.”