Today has not been a good day for Mississippi State football. Earlier on Friday, it was reported that the NCAA had placed the school’s football and men’s basketball programs on three years of probation. That hit was expected so the school had time to brace for it, but the other hit the Bulldogs received hurts even more. Quarterback Keytaon Thompson has decided to enter the transfer portal a day after losing the quarterback battle.
Mississippi State hit with three years probation, loss of five scholarships (2020-2022 academic years), $5K fine and reduction of football and basketball official visits following “Tutorgate.” pic.twitter.com/dJEs89tdgx
— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) August 23, 2019
An investigation into Mississippi State’s athletics department determined that a tutor had committed academic misconduct by illegally aiding 10 football players and one basketball player last fall. The tutor allegedly helped players pass an online chemistry class, but the Bulldogs avoided postseason bans in both football and men’s basketball.
Instead, the NCAA levied a series of smaller punishments on the school. For the football program, the punishments of note are:
- They must pay a fine of $5,000 plus 1% of their annual budget
- They will be stripped of two scholarships during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons
- They will lose 10 percent of their allowed official recruiting visits
Mississippi State will be subjected to a few other measures, but those are all very minor.
Mississippi State QB Keytaon Thompson has entered the NCAA transfer portal, per source.
Former four-star recruit. Was Nick Fitzgerald’s backup last year. Comes one day after Mississippi State named Tommy Stevens its starting QB.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) August 23, 2019
Thompson’s decision to enter the transfer portal will significantly hurt Mississippi State’s depth at quarterback. Thompson had been the back-up to Nick Fitzgerald during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, but head coach Joe Moorhead’s decision to bring in Tommy Stevens (one of the quarterbacks he recruited at Penn State) as a graduate transfer made Stevens the presumptive starter.
BREAKING: Tommy Stevens has been named Mississippi State’s starting quarterback. #HailState🐶 pic.twitter.com/3cB8jhF4oU
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) August 22, 2019
Moorhead confirmed that he was indeed going with Stevens yesterday, and Thompson is no longer content to sit and wait after spending the last two seasons as a back-up quarterback. His departure means that there are only two other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster, and they are both freshmen.
Jalen Mayden redshirted last season, so he has an experience edge over true freshman Garrett Shrader. However, both quarterbacks are still very raw, and Mississippi State would be left in a bind if Stevens went down with an injury.
