After Legal Issue, Ole Miss Must Let Go of Its QB of the Future, Chad Kelly

Chad Kelly is making it simple for Ole Miss in the worst way possible. 

The ex-Clemson quarterback, who committed to the Rebels earlier this month, likely won't compete for the starting job next year. That's because his days as an Ole Miss football player are likely over before they began. 

According to Joseph Popiolkowski of The Buffalo News, Kelly was arrested Sunday following a "scuffle with police." The details of the report are cringe-worthy. The report states that 20-year-old Kelly punched a bouncer attempting to kick him out of a bar. One of Kelly's companions, 21-year-old Brandon Hickey, was reportedly kicked out of the bar earlier. 

Kelly then allegedly threatened to use an assault rifle to "spray this place." From the report:

"

Kelly continued to fight with two bouncers and stated “I’m going to go to my car and get my AK-47 and spray this place,” according to a report.

Buffalo police officers responding to that alleged threat stopped a 2005 Ford F-150 pickup truck in which Kelly was a passenger at 458 Pearl.

Kelly was forcibly removed from the vehicle, officers said. Police said Kelly kicked and tried to swing at officers as they removed him from the vehicle. They said he resisted getting into a patrol vehicle and struggled with staff at central booking.

"

Kelly, who spent the 2014 season at East Mississippi Community College, faces multiple misdemeanor charges, including "third-degree assault, second-degree harassment, second-degree menacing, resisting arrest, fourth-degree criminal mischief, third-degree criminal trespass and second-degree obstructing governmental administration."

A statement from Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said, "We are gathering facts on the matter." Unless Kelly is completely absolved of the allegations, there should be no way Ole Miss keeps him. Even that would be a stretch.

The allegations are haunting. Kelly's threat to "spray this place" may have been an empty one, but that doesn't make it any less frightening or severe. However, without audio, that might be the hardest thing to prove. 

"There's no evidence of a threat of an AK in that video," Kelly's attorney, Thomas Eoannou told the Associated Press.

Thomas Graning/Associated Press

Still, Kelly reportedly injured a bouncer and was noncompliant with police. Each incident on its own could warrant a dismissal. Combined, they should be too much for Kelly to overcome. 

The other side of this story falls on Ole Miss. Freeze knowingly took a risk on Kelly, who was dismissed from Clemson following the team's spring game for "conduct detrimental to the team." Per Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com, Kelly got into a "verbal altercation with coaches at halftime over a decision to punt on 4th-and-short. Kelly was benched for the rest of the game."

Sometimes, those risks pay off. There are plenty of success stories about college players who make mistakes and get kicked out of programs but learn from them and go on to be successful elsewhere. 

That's apparently not the case with Kelly, even though Freeze was sold on him. 

"I did my home visit with he and his family after the championship game and was convinced he was the guy we wanted to go on," Freeze previously said about Kelly, per Hugh Kellenberger of The Clarion-Ledger. 

But these allegations are worse than the ones from Clemson. To keep Kelly—again, unless he is cleared—would invite a lot of warranted backlash. It wouldn't be surprising to see Freeze and Co. cut ties and move on. Ole Miss needs a quarterback to replace Bo Wallace in 2015 and beyond, and Kelly was rated the No. 1 dual-threat JUCO QB by 247Sports' composite rankings. 

However, Ole Miss doesn't need a quarterback that badly.  

The only thing one can hope for Kelly is that he turns his life around. He'll likely play somewhere eventually, whether it's in the JUCO ranks or in a lower division of football. Ultimately, though, football is the least concerning thing about this situation. 

Thus, the easy and right answer for Ole Miss is to not make it about football. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football.