Mississippi State is set to lose a quarterback who had been in the mix for its starting quarterback job.
Junior Keytaon Thompson entered the NCAA transfer portal Friday, one day after the Bulldogs named Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens their starting quarterback.
The competition for the job had been between Stevens and Thompson, a former four-star recruit who was Nick Fitzgerald’s backup the last two seasons.
“It was a great, great competition," Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead told reporters on Thursday. “... We said the decision-making was going to come down to who could make explosive plays, who could minimize turnovers and who can throw the ball with the best accuracy on a consistent manner. Tommy jumped out of the gates strong at the beginning of camp closing into the first scrimmage. KT (Thompson) kind of closed the gap and had a real nice first scrimmage. From that point forward, Tommy created separation and continued to do that towards the tail-end of camp.”
Thompson played in 19 games over the last two years for the Bulldogs, made two starts and accounted for a combined 18 total touchdowns during those two seasons.
The New Orleans native and former Louisiana Mr. Football was rated as the fifth-best dual-threat quarterback in the 2017 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.