Ole Miss Football Position Preview: Quarterback

There are injuries, potential looming suspensions, transfers, and highly touted recruits. Welcome to the quarterback position of Ole Miss football.

Last Season

Bo Wallace passed for just shy of 3,000 yards with 22 touchdowns and 17 interceptions while completing 64% of his passes. At times he looked great. Other times, he made me cringe. Wallace is a quarterback in the Brett Favre mold in that he rarely throws it away and thinks he can make every throw. Luckily, he can make most of them. I wrote an entire article about Wallace's comparison to other quarterbacks around the SEC which you can find here. Suffice it to say, he was above average last season, even with a nagging shoulder injury. He also runs well and can sell the read-option.

Barry Brunetti was an adequate backup to Wallace, completing 63% of his passes with no turnovers. Brunetti also averaged 4.62 yards per carry and flourished in significant time against Mississippi State and Pittsburgh. There's a solid place for him on this team.

This Season

Nothing to see here. Bo Wallace had "minor" shoulder surgery in January and isn't quite 100% yet. Brunetti was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia with no punishment yet announced (though the rumor is that it was handled internally). Last season's third string quarterback, Mikhail Miller, announced he will transfer. Ah, certainty at the most important position on the field: doesn't it feel nice?

Honestly, Wallace will probably be good to go, though I hate that the Rebels' first opponent is a tough SEC game. I'd love to see him have the opportunity to slowly work back in. If Brunetti were suspended, the primary backup quarterback would either be Devante Kincade or Ryan Buchanan, both true freshmen who had good offers but aren't considered ready to compete for the starting job. This position could be disastrous if Bo Wallace isn't ready to go.

The Signing Class

The aforementioned Kincade and Buchanan are both expected to eventually compete for the starting quarterback job. Both had good offer sheets, something I always look at above stars (though in this case they were both rated as four-star prospects). Kincade is expected to be more of the runner of the two, as his high school film shows pretty great vision with the ball in his hands. Buchanan is more of a pocket passer, though I've been assured he can run adequately as well. Because of the levels of competition each faced (Kincade with high-level Texas high school football and Buchanan with Mississippi private schools), it's difficult for me to compare their arms by tape alone. I do know that Florida and Alabama both offered Buchanan very early, so they must have liked his game.