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LOGAN — Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton will miss the next 4-6 weeks of his redshirt senior season with a sprained right knee, head coach Matt Wells told reporters on a conference call Tuesday morning.
"He's got a sprained (medical collateral ligament), but we'll move forward," Wells said. "I hate it and I hate it for him."
Utah State, which doesn't play until Oct. 3 against Colorado State, will turn to sophomore quarterback Kent Myers as the team's starter. The dual-threat Texas quarterback stood out as the starting quarterback for the Aggies as their fourth signal caller a year ago, leading the team to a 5-1 record and earning top offensive honors in a 21-6 win over UTEP at the Gildan New Mexico Bowl.
Now, the offense belongs to Myers once again. Keeton's injury will keep him out of action until at least Oct. 16's home game against Boise State or Oct. 30 against Wyoming. Following the bye week, Utah State opens Mountain West Conference play against the Rams, followed by a road game at Fresno State and a trip to San Diego State between the meetings with Boise and Wyoming.
"We have a lot of confidence in (Myers) and the players have confidence in him," Wells said. "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 recreate 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. We're very close to playing outstanding on special teams. We've got some good stuff going on special teams and I'm excited to see that as we develop it and improve it a little bit more."
Myers finished 2014 completing 67 percent of his passes for 866 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 310 yards and a team-high five touchdowns on 56 carries, averaging 5.5 yards per carry in seven games played.
The native of Rowlett, Texas, set a school and Mountain West record in his first career start against Hawaii on Nov. 1 when he completed 93.3 percent of his passes (14-of-15 pass attempts) for 186 and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
But in a crowded quarterback competition during fall camp that included recently eligible Oregon transfer Damion Hobbs and returned missionary DJ Nelson, among others, Myers temporarily moved to wide receiver during spring practices to learn the offense from another vantage point.
Now he's back under center and could pick up where he left off last season.
"He's a tremendous competitor, he loves to play and is a great teammate," Wells said. "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."
Keeton has played in just 12 games since 2012 while battling knee injuries, and he's missed 24 games during his college career due to injury. The native of Houston still leads the team in touchdowns, and ranks second in total offense in that time.
He set a school record in 2012 with 3,373 passing yards and 27 touchdowns while leading the Aggies to an 11-2 record, but he's completed just 55 of 101 passes (54.5 percent) for 537 yards and two touchdowns with five interceptions in the first three games of 2015 while leading the Aggies to a 1-2 start.
Keeton completed only 17 of 33 passes for 171 yards and two interceptions against Washington last Saturday, including a pick-six on the Huskies' goal line.
