LOGAN — Once again, the Utah State football team will turn over the reins of its offense to a younger quarterback.
Utah State head coach Matt Wells announced during a teleconference Tuesday afternoon that Keeton will miss the next four to six weeks with a sprained MCL in his right knee.
“Chuckie will be out probably four-to-six weeks," Wells said. "He’s got a sprained MCL, but we’ll move forward. I hate it and I hate it for him.”
Wells also said that sophomore Kent Myers, who went 5-1 as a starter last year, will start at quarterback when the Aggies (1-2) return to action against Colorado State (1-2) on Oct. 3.
“We have a lot of confidence in him and the players have confidence in him," Wells said of Myers. "We know the recipe to have success. We’ve used it the last two years. But that doesn’t guarantee us anything, though, for this year. We have to re-create that recipe, and that’s a matter of everybody on offense playing well around the quarterback, playing better around the quarterback and playing great on defense."
Myers was thrust into the quarterback position in 2014 as a true freshman after Keeton, Darell Garretson and Craig Harrison all went down with season-ending injuries. The 6-foot, 195-pound native of Rowlett, Texas, saw his first collegiate action during USU's 34-20 win over UNLV on Oct. 25.
Myers ended up completing 79 of 119 passes for 866 yards with five TDs and three interceptions, and also rushed 56 times for 310 yards and five touchdowns. Myers was named the Gildan New Mexico Bowl Offensive MVP on Dec. 20 after leading the Aggies to a 21-6 victory by rushing for 70 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries while also completing 5 of 12 passes for 68 yards and an interception.
The Aggies, who had hoped to be able to redshirt Myers last season, also wanted to redshirt him in 2015, if possible. But Garretson, who played well in a backup role in 2013 and ’14, left the program in the spring and is now enrolled at Oregon State, leaving Myers as the most experienced option following another injury to Keeton. Prior to Garretson's departure, Myers briefly spent time at wide receiver in order to try to get on the field this season.
“(Myers) is a tremendous competitor, he loves to play and is a great teammate," Wells declared. "He’s a selfless individual and I think you saw that with his willingness to move to receiver during spring camp. He’s a really good player and our team will rally around him. We’ve got to play better around him. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Kent.”
Through the first three games of 2015, Keeton took every snap at quarterback for the Aggies, with the exception of two rushing attempts for 3 yards by Damion Hobbs at Washington. A sophomore transfer from Oregon, Hobbs had to sit out last season.
“We gave him some snaps in some things we wanted to get him into going forward," Wells said of Hobbs.
Keeton's injury marks the fourth time in five years that the 6-foot-2, 210-pound quarterback will miss significant time due to injury. He missed the latter part of his freshman season in 2011 after suffering a neck injury at Hawaii, then started all 13 games as a sophomore. But Keeton's junior season in 2013 was derailed on Oct. 4 when he tore his left ACL and MCL in a loss to BYU, and while he came back in 2014, he was able to play only two-and-a-half games before knee injuries cut off his first attempt at a senior season.
Granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA and the Mountain West, Keeton seemed to be healthy heading into the 2015 season, but a low hit late in the first quarter of USU's loss at Utah had him limping once again for the remainder of the contest.
While that appeared to be his left knee, Wells said Keeton sprained the MCL in his right knee in the first quarter of the Aggies' 31-17 setback at Washington last Saturday and wore a brace on his leg for the remainder of the game.
For the season, Keeton has completed 55 of 101 passes for 537 yards, five interceptions and two touchdowns. He's also carried the ball 23 times for 75 yards.
Utah State (1-2), which has a bye this week, will return to action against Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 3. It was announced earlier this week that the Aggies' homecoming game will kick off at 5 p.m. at Merlin Olsen Field at Maverik Stadium.