Dave Doeren announces MJ Morris as starting quarterback, benches Brennan Armstrong

The Wolfpack has a new alpha. On Monday, NC State head coach Dave Doeren announced MJ Morris will be the team’s starting quarterback moving forward, per The Wolfpacker.

The decision comes after a poor showing from QB Brennan Armstrong in NC State’s 13-10 loss to Louisville in Week 5. In the defeat, Armstrong completed just 13-of-his-25 pass attempts for 112 yards and zero touchdowns. The sixth-year QB also threw two interceptions in the loss.

Despite Doeren’s ultimate decision to bench Armstrong, he defended his QB after the game.

“First of all, nobody feels worse than Brennan does right now,” Armstrong said. “We got work to do with the whole team. I know he’s gonna own his part of it. There’s a lot of things that happened around him and that made it a hard night at that position too. I told them this in the locker room, every player has a partner in a win every player has a partner in a loss.

“There’s a lot of things we got to improve on. It’s football, you know, you start blaming the head coach first and then after that, you go to the quarterback, that’s what people do. I understand that. That’s the sport we’re in. That’s not what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna get in there with these guys and try to help them get better.”

A long time coming for MJ Morris

It wasn’t the first sign of struggle for Armstrong. In the first five games of the 2023 campaign, Armstrong was 94-of-160 passing for 971 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. He posted a QBR of 41.0 and a 66.8 offensive grade, according to Pro Football Focus.

Morris is yet to see playing time this season. However, in his freshman season last year, Morris recorded 648 passing yards and seven touchdowns while connecting 60.5% of his passing attempts.

Morris lost the battle for the starting spot in the preseason to Armstrong after he transferred to NC State from Virginia. Following the decision, Doeren actually wanted to redshirt Morris to preserve his eligibility.

“We’re trying to redshirt him,” Doeren said of Morris. “If I get the opportunity to not play him, I’m not going to play him. … MJ doesn’t need mop up duty right now.”

NC State fans are thankful Doeren’s vision didn’t go according to plan. NC State is 3-2, averaging just 214.8 passing yards per game. The Wolfpack needed a change and Doeren delivered. Now, it’s Morris’ turn to live up to his end of the deal.

Morris will make his first start this season on Saturday as NC State squares off against Marshall 2 p.m. ET on the CW Network.