Who Will Be Devin Leary’s Backup?

There is no question of who the starting Quarterback at NC State is, but a very real question is who will be his backup?

One might have thought headed into 2022, that Redshirt Freshman Ben Finley (Ryan Finley’s brother) might be the man for the job. He is entering his third season in Raleigh, seeing action in 5 games over his first two years (1 in 2020 and 4 in 2021).

But things got interesting when Charleston Southern Quarterback Jack Chambers (5’10″/180) chose to come to Raleigh as a Graduate Transfer in May as a walk-on. Chambers earned 2nd team Big South honors in 2021, and was a captain for the Buccaneers for 2 years.

In Chambers you have a player who doesn’t have 5 games of experience, primarily in end of game blowout situations like Finley. You have a guy that has played in 32 games, passed for 5,761 yards and thrown 40 touchdowns (29 interceptions) and rushed for 1,318 yards and 15 rushing touchdowns. I’m not saying Chambers’ numbers are wonderful because they aren’t, but most quarterbacks coming off the bench if the starter gets hurt aren’t coming in with 4 years of game experience.

We already knew 4-Star M.J. Morris was arriving on campus this Fall as a True Freshman, but would he see the field in 2022?

Last week Doeren stated after practice that Chambers and Morris were splitting the 2nd team reps, with not mention of Finley, and that he wasn’t ready to say whether Chambers or Morris would backup Leary in Week 1.

Here’s what this says to me. Doeren has more confidence in rolling out Chambers if Leary gets dinged up than Finley, and that’s not necessarily a knock on Finley. It also tells me that Morris is outperforming Finley in Fall Camp, which is extremely impressive, considering the highly touted prospect just arrived on campus, and this is Finley’s third Fall Camp.

Here’s to hoping there isn’t a scenario where a Leary needs a backup due to injury, especially one that puts him out for an extended period of time. But let’s say that happens…would it be Chambers or Morris? My gut says in that scenario it would probably be Chambers to start.

With that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Morris get reps early this season at the end of games that might be a blowout.

Don’t forget, Morris is a true freshman, so I wouldn’t expect him to play in more than 4 games in order to keep his redshirt in tact. With that being said, the coaching staff is going to make the decision that they think will help NC State win games.

If Leary goes down, and Morris somehow ends up being the man the coaches give the job to, it would speak volumes of how much they believe in the young stud.

As a Senior last season at Carrollton High School in Georgia, Morris completed 186-of-295 passes for 3,089 yards (a 63.1% completion percentage), threw 33 touchdowns and had a QB rating of 122.8. He also rushed 109 times for 602 yards and seven scores.