Gamble pays off

Former Penn State QB Tommy Stevens earns job at Mississippi State.

Penn State graduate transfer Tommy Stevens will start at quarterback for Mississippi State in the season opener Aug. 31 against Louisiana-Lafayette in New Orleans.

Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is familiar with Stevens from their shared history at Penn State. Moorhead was the Nittany Lions offensive coordinator from 2016-17; Stevens was a reserve quarterback from 2016-18.

Stevens beat out junior Keytaon Thompson for the Bulldogs job.

“It was a great, great competition,” Moorhead said Thursday. “Both guys are similar in size and provide equal threats in the run game. We said the decisionmaking was going to come down to who could create explosive plays, who could minimize turnovers and who can throw the ball with the best accuracy on a consistent manner.”

Stevens (6 feet 5) went 24 of 41 for 304 yards with four touchdown passes and one interception in 23 games for the Nittany Lions. Stevens also rushed for 506 yards and eight touchdowns, and he caught 14 passes for 62 yards and two scores.

Stevens is replacing departed three-year starter Nick Fitzgerald, whose 3,607 career yards rushing were the most by a Southeastern Conference quarterback.

“Tommy jumped out strong at the beginning of camp,” Moorhead said. “Closing into the first scrimmage, K.T. [Thompson] closed the gap and had a real nice first scrimmage. From that point forward, Tommy continued to create separation and did that toward the tail end of camp.”

Tennessee

Former Maryland quarterback Kasim Hill transferred to Tennessee as a walk-on and will sit out this season.

Hill started Maryland’s first 10 games as a redshirt freshman a year ago before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The ACL in his right knee was torn in Maryland’s third game in 2017.

He completed 53.4 percent of his career passes at Maryland for 1,313 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions.