Freeze to Kelly: 'I Will Deal with You When I Get Ready'

The Rebels are in Atlanta and digging into practice to prepare for the No. 6 TCU Horned Frogs, but one nagging problem won’t go away: what to do about recent signee Chad Kelly.
The troubled former Clemson-turned-East Mississippi Community College quarterback was involved in an altercation outside a nightclub in Buffalo, New York, near his home of Niagara Falls last weekend and has been charged with multiple misdemeanor charges.
Freeze was asked Friday about the status of potential future starting quarterback of the Rebels:
“It’s like I tell him everyday when he’s calling me and texting me: I will deal with you when I get ready to deal with you,” Freeze said. “That will be after I gather everything and see after the Jan. 5 court date and what happens with that. When you’re dealing with a kid’s future, I know everybody has their opinions and none of the opinions really matter except for what is best for the program first, the kid second.
“For me to do anything other than wait for all the facts and the total truth … everything that is out there is not accurate. I want to deal exactly what is accurate. This is where he wants to be. He knows a mistake in being in the wrong place and I think is remorseful for that. But I got to deal with what is best for the team first, and then try to do what is best for the young man.”
Kelly signed with Clemson a few years ago but was dismissed his sophomore year after a pattern of behavior “not consistent with the values of the program,” Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney said after the two parted ways. He has since led the East Mississippi Community College squad where graduating quarterback Bo Wallace hailed from before Ole Miss.
Kelly is still set to enroll at the university in January.
Amelia Camurati is editor-in-chief of HottyToddy.com and can be reached at amelia.camurati@hottytoddy.com.