Ball State Names Veteran Journeyman Starting Quarterback

A tightly-contested quarterback competition consumed a lot of oxygen during fall camp for the Ball State Cardinals. Ahead of the week one matchup at Kentucky coach Mike Neu announced Layne Hatcher will earn the start against the Wildcats.

Ball State is the fourth school Hatcher has attended in his college career. The Arkansas native began his career as a walk-on at Alabama before transferring to Arkansas State. After three years in Jonesboro he transferred to Texas State in 2022. In four years as a starter he completed about 62% of his passes for 10,080 yards, 84 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. He ranks second in Sun Belt Conference history in touchdowns and ninth in passing yards.

Despite his production in the Sun Belt, Mike Neu described the competition as a “dead heat” through most of training camp with true freshman Kadin Semonza. It sounds like the new guy could see some reps against Kentucky.

“He earned reps. He made it very challenging throughout training camp with the things he was doing day in, day out in practice,” said Neu.

“I think what it came down to more than anything is here’s a guy that’s got four years of starting experience and they’re in a heated, deadlock battle. Having Layne be the starting quarterback in week one is certainly because he earned it. It was a dead heat everyday in practice as we got to that midway point of training camp. But Kadin knows he’s gotta be ready to go and he’s learned a lot from Layne.”

Ball State has another wrinkle at the quarterback position they can throw at Kentucky. Redshirt sophomore Kiael Kelly is a running option that New wants to see in action.

“Kiael is going to play a lot of football for us and that’ll be in several different roles,” said Neu.

Ball State Star Tight End’s Status in Question at Kentucky

The Cardinals’ strength is on the line of scrimmage. Last fall they paved the way for Carson Steele to rush for more than 1,500 yards. Even though Steele transferred to UCLA, Ball State still has a pair of talented tight ends, but one may be on the shelf this Saturday at Kroger Field.

Last fall Brady Hunt caught 46 passes for 498 yards and five touchdowns. Only Tanner Koziol, the other tight end, caught more touchdowns for the Cardinals in 2022. Hunt suffered an ankle injury in the preseason and has been wearing a walking boot.

“Those guys are really in a day-to-day status, been back on the practice field so we’ll take it day by day,” said the Ball State head coach. “They’ve done a great job being committed to their treatment process and doing what our training staff will allow them to do in practice because we certainly don’t want to put them at risk of being any longer term than what it is right now.”

The other player Neu was referring to is starting defensive end Tavion Woodard. Starting inside linebacker Clayton Coll suffered a hamstring injury in camp but is expected to be ready for Saturday’s season-opener at Kentucky.