Mack Brown spoke to the media for the first time in a couple of weeks and as expected, the plan for the quarterback position in the opener with Minnesota was revealed.
When asked about the battle that is continuing between Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson and sophomore Conner Harrell, the head coach said it will be heading into the season. “Depending on how the game goes, we would like to play both quarterbacks …and we’d like to do it for the season,” Brown said.
This quote is certainly concerning when you hear it for the first time, but when you dig deeper, it is likely just a strategy from this staff. Last week, the program announced that they were not going to release a depth chart after Minnesota chose to do the same and this feels like this might be an extension of that. We’ll see come game time if Brown was telling the truth here, but it feels like this is more of a way to keep the Golden Gophers guessing.
In terms of who the staff is leaning with, we will have to wait until game day. Johnson enters this season with 22 career starts between LSU and Texas A&M where he posted a 12-10 record. So far, he has thrown for 5,852 yards and has shown he can take care of the football with his 47-12 touchdown-interception ratio.
As for Harrell, he closed the spring strong and appeared to be in a good spot to hold onto the starting job, but the reviews haven’t been as glowing in fall camp. Harrell started the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, completing 18 of his 27 passes for 207 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions and rushing for five yards on 16 carries. While those numbers might not look great, he was under tremendous pressure the entire night behind a compromised offensive line and had to fight through a leg injury suffered in the first quarter to complete the game.
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