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Brad Kaaya Named Starting Quarterback: Quotes, Videos and Player Reactions

"Hi Felicia" Brad Kaaya named starting QB for the Canes. Videos, quotes and reactions on the decision.

By Alejandro Narciso

At 3 pm on Sunday, Head Coach Al Golden was set to speak with the media after practice.

Speculation about Golden naming the starting quarterback for week 1 against Louisville spread across Canes social media. Would it be freshman Brad Kaaya or would it be 23-year old veteran Jake Heaps?

After answering a couple of meaningless questions regarding who-knows-what, Golden was finally asked the most important question of the summer.

"Have you made the decision on a quarterback?"

Twitter broke when Golden made the announcement.

1) Kaaya named starter

Golden said he had made the decision to start Kaaya on Sunday morning. He mentioned that it was a close battle between him and Heaps.

"It was really close," said Golden. "Just a couple little things here and there. I'd be happy with either one of them going in the game, but right now it's Brad though."

2) Golden on Kaaya

***

Offensive Coordinator James Coley later spoke to the media about the decision.

Coley said the separation between Kaaya and Heaps started about eight days ago. He said Kaaya really pulled away for the starting role.

Many believe that Kaaya won the job because of Heaps' untimely injury before the second scrimmage. Coley refuted those claims.

"Nope not at all," said Coley. "I think Jake missed just one day, had nothing to do with that at all."

***

10 days ago I tweeted this out regarding a play in practice:

I asked Coley what the decisive factor between Kaaya and Heaps was, and he said this.

3) Coley on what seperated Kaaya from heaps

When RB Duke Johnson last spoke to the media, he said that Brad Kaaya had a little trouble reading coverages. Flash forward a week and James Coley says the difference in Kaaya reading coverages is "day and night."

"Like I said before, the kid acts like he's 30," said Coley. "He watches a lot of film. There's been times where I tell him in practice 'why are you working that side?!' and he said 'A guy came hot so I hit my hot route.' I watch the film and sure enough, the guy comes off the edge and he catches him. He's got good spacial awareness. He understands the field. He can see it very well. Being 6'4" helps.

***

Players like Phillip Dorsett, Malcolm Lewis and Denzel Perryman spoke to media as well. They all seemed happy about the decision, especially Lewis.

Most of these reactions were genuinely early. Coach Coley said players came in as if it was a regular day of practice. None of them, except the quarterbacks, knew who would start.

Denzel Perryman, however, took it upon himself to find out who would start.

4) Perryman on how he found out about Kaaya


I asked Perryman about how he's been preparing Kaaya for the possibility of playing Louisville on prime time television.

"I would talk trash to him, Tracy would too, everyone would, really," said Perryman. "But he'd be calm, collected, quiet, and just smiling. He's a relaxed guy."

***SIDE NOTES***

- Phillip Dorsett was asked about how he thinks Jake Heaps will take the news.

"He'll be alright," said Dorsett. "He's a real cool guy so he'll be alright."

- Al Golden was asked about the possibility of Ryan Williams coming back mid season to be the starter.

5) Golden on Ryan Williams coming back