Photo by Charlie Luttrell, SM2

HATTIESBURG, Ms – Southern Miss football Head Coach Will Hall announced Tuesday that quarterback Ty Keyes is out for the remainder of the season.

Keyes, who was the clear starter coming out of fall camp, suffered a hand-related injury earlier in the season against Tulane. He did not return after taking one snap for a rush against the Green Wave.

“He [Ty Keyes] is out for the year,” Hall said when asked about Keyes’ injury status.

Hall did not specify the details of the injury, but now it is assumed to be something more severe than initially thought. Keyes played in two games this season, suffering injuries in both. He threw for 281 yards with three touchdown passes.

In his high school days at Taylorsville High School, he threw for 14,525 yards and 155 touchdowns. Keyes was an ESPN Top 300 player recruited out of high school in 2021. ESPN ranked him as the No. 7 dual-threat QB in the country and a four-star recruit.

Last season, Keyes came in for the injured Trey Lowe and played in four games before suffering a season-ending injury against Rice. He arguably had his most memorable game versus Alabama, where he connected on a pair of touchdown passes against the Crimson Tide.

The unfortunate news for Keyes is that he redshirted last season, so this season could not be his redshirt year. The good news for Keyes is that he still has a ton of football ahead of him.

Southern Miss’ focus will now turn to their other three quarterbacks in the room. Freshman quarterback Zach Wilcke has started five games for the Golden Eagles, throwing for 792 yards, six touchdowns, and six interceptions. Jake Lange has earned the backup spot and saw action against Arkansas State as he replaced Wilcke in the second half and led the Golden Eagles on two touchdown drives to win 20-19 against Arkansas State.

Hall noted Tuesday that Lange is still the second-string quarterback after being promoted ahead of Trey Lowe a couple of weeks ago.

“Trey [Lowe] is a great kid. He’s going to be a great coach. He’s behind Zach and Jake right now from a performance standpoint,” Hall said.