ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL

ASU’s Todd Graham: Taylor Kelly is starter, but knows he still has to perform

Nov 21, 2014, 7:43 PM | Updated: 9:16 pm

LISTEN: Todd Graham, ASU head coach

Taylor Kelly will be the starting quarterback for Arizona State against Washington State on Saturday.

A three-year starter, Kelly will be taking the snaps to begin the game against the Cougars, playing for ASU in his last home game on Senior Day. But despite assurances that Kelly is the starter, questions still remain as to whether head coach Todd Graham would consider giving more time to junior Mike Bercovici, who impressed while Kelly was injured earlier in the season.

Graham was a guest Friday with Doug & Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM and he was posed the oft-asked question about his stance on Kelly as the starter after his team’s 35-27 loss on Saturday to Oregon State.

“He’s our quarterback and we have a lot of faith in his leadership,” said Graham. “But at the end of the day, just like me, I have to perform, he has to perform, and he knows that.”

Kelly missed three games due to a foot injury earlier in the season and in the four games since his return has been performing below his standards of previous seasons.

The senior has completed 55 percent of his passes since the injury, throwing eight touchdowns to five interceptions and the dual-threat option has been shut down on the ground, picking up only 95 yards and a touchdown on 46 carries. Kelly’s struggles may have come to a head in Saturday’s loss, as he completed only half of his 44 attempts. He threw two touchdowns but was intercepted twice.

Although Kelly’s numbers have been significantly less impressive than his performance in 2013, where he threw for 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions and added nine scores on the ground, some of this can be attributed to slow recovery from his injury.

“Taylor, he broke his, they put a pin in his foot,” said Graham. “He didn’t play for six weeks and has not been at the form that he was before.”

Although far less of a running option, Bercovici has had some more success through the air this season, passing for 10 touchdowns with three interceptions and averaging 414 passing yards per game in three starts during Kelly’s absence.

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Sun Devils are still in the thick of the Pac-12 South standings, in a logjam of four teams that each have two losses in the conference, which means the stakes are high for the team’s last two games of the regular season.

“We’re obviously going to do what’s best for our team and give our guys a chance to win,” said Graham. “So Taylor is going to be our starting quarterback for Senior Day and we’re going to do whatever we’ve got to do to win a game.”

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