With Ball State football season around the corner, we're breaking down the roster position by position. First, a look at the Cardinals' quarterbacks.
Ball State football season is right around the corner.
The Cardinals will kick off their season on Saturday, Aug. 30, with an in-state road game at Purdue. Ball State is coming off a 3-9 season and hasn't qualified for a bowl game since 2021, but new head coach Mike Uremovich will look to lead a quick turnaround.
With the season less than three weeks away, we're breaking down the Cardinals' roster position by position. Without further ado, here's our breakdown of Ball State football at the most critical position — quarterback.
Kiael Kelly returns as QB1 for Ball State
Kiael Kelly will be the Cardinals' starting signal caller in 2025. The redshirt senior started the last six games of the 2023 season and led the Cardinals to a 3-3 record before briefly entering the transfer portal. He returned to Ball State as a defensive back, but wound up moving back to offense. In 2024, Kelly only took 79 snaps at a variety of positions — quarterback, running back, slot and outside receiver — with limited production.
Kelly reentered the portal before the final game of the 2024 season but was recruited back to Ball State by Uremovich, whose run-heavy offense saw great success with dual-threat quarterbacks at Butler. At the Mid-American Conference media day on July 24, Uremovich officially named Kelly the starting quarterback.
"It's been crazy, you know, it's all I ever asked for," Kelly said. "It's the first time that I knew I was starting, so this offseason has more so been keeping that, expressing more, using my voice and getting the team what we need to do throughout the workouts. Just leading by example."
With Kelly as the starter in 2023, Ball State had one of the MAC's best rushing offenses with an average of 235 rushing yards per game in those six games. Kelly finished second on the team with 724 rushing yards and ran for seven touchdowns, but his passing numbers left plenty to be desired — 66-for-124 (53.2% completion) for 577 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions.
Quarterbacks coach Craig Harmon has been impressed with Kelly's work ethic as he looks to improve his passing and pick up a new offensive scheme.
"He's a worker," Harmon said. "Every day he comes out here with the same mindset, 'I'm going to compete and be better.' And he does. He improves every day, and to be honest, from walking in here in December to where he is now, he's done a hell of a job."
Walter Taylor III projects as primary backup
Kelly's return didn't stop Ball State from adding a signal caller from the transfer portal, as the Cardinals landed former Vanderbilt and Colorado quarterback Walter Taylor III during the winter portal window. Taylor is an enticing prospect with arm strength to boot, legit dual-threat capabilities and a towering frame at 6-foot-5, 241 pounds.
Taylor didn't see any action last season at Colorado but appeared in five games for Vanderbilt in 2023, completing five passes for 44 yards and rushing 30 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. He still appears raw as a passer, perhaps even more so than Kelly, but the potential is sky-high given his physical abilities.
"Walt's a really good player, extremely talented guy, can do a lot of things well with the football," Harmon said. "He's came in and worked and learned a new offense. We're really glad he's here."
Other names to know
Ball State has three other quarterbacks rostered after moving Yale transfer Bradyn Fleharty to wide receiver. Redshirt junior Aidan Leffler and redshirt freshman Bodie Derrer both return from last year's roster, while true freshman Khalel Wright joins the team as Uremovich and Co.'s first high school QB recruit.
Leffler joined Ball State in 2022 after a stellar high school career at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis and is entering his fourth year with the Cardinals. He came in twice last season as a reserve quarterback, completing two passes for six yards. Derrer — another in-state prospect out of Hamilton Heights — redshirted last season and has not seen game action.
Wright arrives by way of Charlotte Country Day (N.C.) as another dual-threat prospect. His father, Anthony Wright, played quarterback for South Carolina from 1996-98 and played nine seasons in the NFL. Wright has impressed the coaching staff with his knowledge of the game early in his career.
"His dad was an NFL quarterback for a lot of years, and you could tell a lot of times when he comes in the meeting room, he's got a great football IQ," Harmon said. "He learns it, and being a young guy, he's learning it without a lot of reps, which is hard to do because most guys learn by doing."
Contact Cade Hampton via email at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State football position preview: Meet the QBs for the 2025 season
Category: General Sports
