Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly has sports hernia surgery; will miss the rest of spring practice, per report

According to Chuck Rounsaville of the Ole Miss Spirit, Rebel QB Chad Kelly will miss the remainder of the spring due to a surgical procedure. This surgery was not announced ahead of time and leaves the Rebels with just two scholarship quarterbacks on roster for the last few days of spring practice. Kelly, who accumulated the third most yards in SEC history last season, is expected to recover and be fine by August.

But it's not a good thing. Surgeries are never good, especially when they affect the best piece of an offense that has to replace a lot in terms of timing and protection. Kelly will miss some opportunities to work on routes with receivers. He'll have limited time with the new and inexperienced tackles. This news shouldn't be overblown. It's not likely to have a lingering effect. It's just not ideal.

The news does allow quarterbacks Shea Patterson and Jason Pellerin to get more quality snaps and work on developing as young signal callers. With Kelly out of the picture for the last few practices, Patterson and Pellerin get to practice with the "ones" a lot more and will have the opportunity to show their stuff. It could be a nice thing in the long-term, since Ole Miss needs to find a reliable backup quarterback entering this fall.

UPDATE (8:45 AM CT): According to RebelGrove.com's Neal McCready, Freeze has announced that the staff expects Kelly to be "back" in three weeks.