Is Kelly the Best Ole Miss QB Ever?

If you talk to fans outside of Oxford the answer to “Who is the Best QB Ever at Ole Miss?” might be an easy one for them to answer. The last name will be Manning. The first name will be either Archie or Eli, depending on what era they grew up watching college football.

The Mannings are the ones that always come to mind, but how do the two Hugh Freeze era Quarterbacks, Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly, compare? Let’s take a deeper look statistically.

Archie Manning was Johnny Football before there was Johnny Football. In the days of statue Quarterbacks and run first offenses, Archie ran around and made plays with both his feet and his arm during his Ole Miss career from 1968-1970. ‘

When going through his stats, it is important to keep in mind he only played 10 games a season and his final season was cut short by injury after eight games. In his three seasons under center, Archie was 402-761 passing with 4,753 passing yards and tossing 31 touchdowns with 40 interceptions.

While Archie finished third in the Heisman race in 1970, his best season was probably the 1969 campaign. He threw for 1,762 yards with a 58.1 completion percentage and 14 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. His rushing numbers were very impressive as he ran for 504 yards on 124 attempts

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Archie’s son Eli came along some 30 years later and broke all the passing records in Ole Miss football history. Eli threw for 10,119 yards in his career while throwing 81 touchdowns and 35 interceptions with a 60.8 completion percentage.

Eli’s damage was done in three plus years as the Rebels signal caller. While everyone remembers him for leading Ole Miss to the Cotton Bowl in 2003, the 2001 season may have been his best one as a Rebel. He had a 63.5 completion percentage, throwing for 2,948 yards with 31 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Bo Wallace may arguably be the most underrated QB in the history of the program as Ole Hotty Toddy’s own K.L. Williams pointed out recently. There was always a narrative of “Good Bo/Bad Bo” around the program during Wallace’s tenure, when in reality every QB experiences ups and downs.

Wallace threw for 9,534 yards during his Ole Miss career with a 63 even completion percentage and 62 touchdowns and 41 interceptions. Bo also had some wheels on him as he compiled 944 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns as a Rebel.

It can be argued for either 2013 or 2014 as the best in Wallace’s career, but I will go with 2014 as he threw for 3,194 yards while completing 60.1 percent of his passes and throwing for 22 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

That brings us to Chad Kelly, who has one season under his belt and has one remaining to cement himself as the best ever at Ole Miss. It is important to keep in mind that Kelly will only have two seasons at Ole Miss while the other three were in Oxford for at least three seasons.

While Kelly will not break Eli Manning’s career passing records, he has already locked up several season records including passing yards, total yards, passing touchdowns, total touchdowns, completions, and completion percentage.

Kelly’s stats from last season were impressive throwing for 4,042 yards with a completion percentage of 65.1 and tossing 31 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. Kelly was also able to muster 509 rushing yards on 106 attempts and crossing the goal line 10 times.

It is tough to ask Chad Kelly to put up the same or better numbers as he did last season, but if he does then it is no debate as to who is the best QB ever to play at Ole Miss. Even the folks who grew up with Archie and later saw Eli would have to admit that Kelly is the best there ever was at Vaught-Hemingway.

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