QB battle rages on at USM fall camp

For the first time since 2013, the Southern Miss football team has a true battle at the quarterback position. In 2015, Tyler Matthews challenged Nick Mullens for the starting role, only to have the latter go on and win Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year.
This morning, Head Coach Jay Hopson got his first look at a race that’s turning out to be neck and neck on the first day of fall camp. That appears to be a sign of things to come, leading up to the season opener.
Nick Mullens is gone and the search for the successor to USM’s all-time leading passer is on. Head Coach Jay Hopson said, “It’s a battle. I think when you just watch us it’s easy to see it’s a battle.”
Six quarterbacks are on the roster, but by all accounts this is a two horse race between Keon Howard and Kwadra Griggs. “They both complement each other really well because they’re both able to do a lot of things, but that’s a battle I see going all the way up to the wire,” said Coach Hopson.
With day one of fall camp now in the books, the two starting job hopefuls have 28 practices left to make their case. As a redshirt junior, Griggs has more years under his belt, but has yet to take a snap at the division I level. The younger Howard is just a sophomore, but has the advantage of having started two games last year when Mullens was dealing with an injured thumb.
Either way it goes, Coach Hop considers the battle a good problem to have. “Nick Mullens is playing for the San Francisco 49ers right now. Last year I felt like we were kind of like Nick and we just prayed he didn’t get hurt. You know what I’m saying? This year I think we have more depth at the position, so it is what it is.”
Southern Miss Quarterback Keon Howard said, “Oh, it’s a good battle. It’s a good thing we’ve got a lot of quarterbacks in right now. Just for like practice wise and saving our arms and stuff, so going into here it’s going to be a great thing we’ve got a lot of quarterbacks so we can teach the old guys and we can learn ourselves. Push each other.”
Eventually healthy competition should draw the line between first and second string, but in case that it doesn’t natural selection ought to do the trick. “We’ll evaluate it and if one steps to the head of the class, he’ll step to the head of the class. If it’s that back and forth battle, they’ll both play,” said Coach Hopson.
Both Griggs and Howard are athletic players and Hopson says the starter will emerge as the guy best equipped to limit mistakes. Neither QB had a turnover on the first day of fall camp.