STARKVILLE — Matt Wyatt is convinced he has a good idea what is going through the minds of Chris Relf and Tyler Russell this week.
He feels that way because he experienced something similar for four years.
Wyatt, a former MSU quarterback, went through what seemed like a weekly positional battle throughout his career playing for coach Jackie Sherrill. He said he has seen it from every conceivable angle.
“Mississippi State fans have always made a quarterback battle a bigger deal than it really is,” Wyatt said. “Don’t misunderstand me because State fans are no different than anybody else. Everybody think there’s this drama involved and there’s not.”
The drama is there this week because MSU coach Dan Mullen is letting Relf and Russell take first-team snaps this week as the team prepares to face the No. 15 University of South Carolina at 11:21 a.m. Saturday (WCBI), but he won’t name a starting quarterback. Mullen said Tuesday the quarterback decision might not be made until pregame warmups Saturday morning.
“I might tell them after we get the ball (first),” Mullen said. “Before the game we might not put anybody on the jumbotron, might put all three of them on the jumbotron. I might go Wildcat the first play. That way none of them started. Then everyone will all flip out. It doesn’t matter who plays the first play of the game. It’s who plays the best during the game.”
Wyatt, who is in his first season as radio color analyst for MSU football games, threw for 2,110 yards and nine touchdowns in his college career while splitting playing time with Derrick Tate, Rob Morgan, and Wayne Madkin. Wyatt said each relationship was the same even though different personalities were involved.
“I’m sure people want to know what Chris and Tyler are thinking, but here’s the deal. It simply doesn’t matter what they think or how it affects them,” Wyatt said. “What matters to the coaches every single time is who is going to give them the best chance to score right then. That’s it.”
After Russell went 11 of 13 and threw three touchdowns in the second half and led MSU to a 21-3 victory at the University of Alabama, MSU fans are encouraged about the sophomore from Meridian getting playing time Saturday.
“I really do believe you could have put anybody in that situation and they would have done the same thing,” Russell said. “I think Chris would’ve gone back out there after halftime and picked it back up.”
In 1996, Wyatt was a new, drop-back passing prospect from Prattville, Ala. He said fans began campaigning for him to get playing time as a redshirt freshman over Taite, the established starter.
“One of the worst feelings for me is when fans would boo because he was out there,” Wyatt said. “Everybody thinks the backup wants the starter to screw up so you can go in. That’s not true, and I can tell you I wanted us to go score when the other guy was in there.”
Mullen said Wednesday in the Southeastern Conference media teleconference that MSU coaches didn’t think Relf, who has a streak of 18 consecutive starts, played poorly but made an “educated decision” to insert Russell to help the team score.
“We were just playing poorly as an offense,” Mullen said. “Tyler had had a really good week of practice, so you felt we’ve got to try something to change it up.”
Wyatt insisted none of the talk among the players in the locker room was about MSU’s quarterback battle.
“You’ve got a bunch of guys that have had their entire life devoted to game of football, and I promise you they do not care who is behind center,” Wyatt said. “They just want the quarterback to do their job like them on every play.”
After the game, Relf said the coaches “needed to trust him to throw the ball downfield.” Wyatt said he understands the emotion behind those comments.
“I would be disappointed and shocked to hear Chris wasn’t wanting Tyler to succeed last week,” Wyatt said. “I remember the attitude among Wayne and I being if you’re in, go down and score. If you’re in and not producing, then go out and let me see what I can do. That’s the way it is everywhere.”
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