As if things couldn’t get worse for the struggling Ole Miss Rebels, just over 24 hours after the team beat Georgia Southern, 37-27, on Saturday, reports surfaced that quarterback Chad Kelly is done for the season.
Ole Miss QB Chad Kelly is out for the season
This is horrible news for Ole Miss.
Photo by Butch Dill/Getty Images
The senior left Saturday’s game with an apparent knee injury in the third quarter, and did not return. Ole Miss confirmed the signal caller suffered a torn ACL and a torn lateral meniscus with an official statement that was released on Sunday evening.
Kelly has thrown for 2,758 yards and 19 touchdowns so far this season, along with just eight interceptions. Here’s Red Cup Rebellion on just how valuable Kelly has been for the Rebels this season.
It’s a crushing blow to a team that once fancied itself and SEC West contender but now finds itself fighting for bowl eligibility. Ole Miss needs win two of its final three games against Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Mississippi, a task that was far from guaranteed even before the news on Kelly,
Its hard to oversell Kelly’s significance to this offense. Sure, he hasn’t been as accurate with the deep ball and has shown regression in decision making this season, but he’s still accounted for 74 percent of Ole Miss’ total offensive yardage and 60 percent of its touchdowns.
In Kelly’s absence, the Rebels will likely turn to redshirt freshman Jason Pellerin. He’s appeared in five games for the Rebels this season, but mostly as a runner in various situational downs.
Pellerin completed just one of his five passes after taking over against Georgia Southern on Saturday. Red Cup Rebellion also offered some thoughts on Pellerin taking the place of Kelly.
Pellerin obviously has nowhere near the arm talent of Kelly and his presence behind center will drastically change the offensive strategy. Ole Miss just became a hell of a lot more reliant on the run game, which is bad news for a team that came into the weekend ranked 94th in rushing success rate and has a banged up offensive line. They were already struggling to make consistent progress on the ground, and that was with the threat of Kelly’s deep ball keeping them out of the box.
We’ll see how Ole Miss’ offense can adjust without one of its most valuable parts. The Rebels take on Texas A&M this Saturday.
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