College football: Two QBs for Morehouse, state schedule


Today’s gamees

Palmetto Prep at Georgia Military College, 1 p.m.

Shorter at Mars Hill, 1 p.m.

Reinhardt at Kentucky Christian, 1:30 p.m.

Kentucky State at Morehouse, 2 p.m.

Fort Valley State at Lane, 2 p.m.

Mercer at Georgia Tech, 3 p.m.

Clark Atlanta vs. Central State (Chicago), 4:30 p.m.

Albany State vs. Tuskegee (Phenix City, Ala.), 5 p.m.

West Georgia at Miles, 5 p.m.

Berry at LaGrange, 7 p.m.

Savannah State at Southern Miss, 7 p.m.

Point at Kennesaw State, 7 p.m.

Georgia Southern at South Alabama, 7 p.m.

Morehouse coach Rich Freeman isn’t in a hurry to name a starting quarterback.

He wants senior Monqavious Johnson and junior Kivon Taylor to compete for the No. 1 job for the next couple of weeks. And then, based on their practices, either Johnson or Taylor will start that week’s game.

“We’re kind of taking a page out of Kirby Smart’s book. And Coach Saban’s book and letting those guys compete a little bit through the first two or three games,” Freeman said. “We’re letting those guys fight for the position. It’s a good problem to have.”

Johnson (M.L. King) has started at various times during his Morehouse career and led the Maroon Tigers in passing each of the past three seasons.

He threw for 1,038 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2015.

Taylor signed with Connecticut out of Grady High, transferred to Foothill College, a junior college in Los Altos Hills, Calif., where he played in 2014 before joining Morehouse last year.

He threw for 355 yards and three touchdowns in 2015.

Taylor started at quarterback in Morehouse’s opening 19-13 victory over Edward Waters, but had to leave the game because of illness.

Johnson replaced him and finished with 148 yards passing, but more important, scored the game-winning touchdown on a hectic, ad-libbed 24-yard run with no time left on the clock.

“He tried to pass and nothing was there. He started scrambling and I’m watching the time run off the clock,” Freeman said. “ ‘Oh Lord, he’s not going to leave enough time to call a time-out.’ He scrambled and scrambled, and finally, he found daylight. He ran and broke into the end zone. I was trying to get him to run out of bounds so we could kick a field goal.

“Boy, I tell you. We like to make it hard.”

Freeman said he likely will continue the quarterback competition for two more weeks, which are against nonconference opponents, including today’s game against Kentucky State (0-1).

Morehouse begins SIAC play against Miles on Sept. 24.

“Kivon outplayed Monqavious in the spring, but in our eyes, one spring performance doesn’t outweigh three years of stellar play,” Freeman said. “We let those guys compete again in fall camp.”