Jerrod Johnson has won his camp battle with Ryan Tannehill and will enter the season as Texas A&M's starting quarterback.
Coach Mike Sherman made the announcement after practice today, praising both quarterbacks. Johnson, who started 10 games last season after Stephen McGee was injured, seemed to gain an edge in practice last week.
"The way it finished up, we have two No. 1s that I feel very excited about," Sherman said. "I believe in both our quarterbacks and am equally happy with both, but the nod will go to Jerrod as our starter for the first ballgame and we'll go from there. They've both had an outstanding camp and their numbers are almost identical. They are great kids, they work hard each day and they keep getting better."
Sherman didn't really answer the obvious follow-up question, when asked if Tannehill would return to wide receiver, where he caught 55 passes last season as a freshman. It sounded like the coach was leaning toward keeping Tannehill on the sideline, for the moment.
"Ryan's going to be a heck of a quarterback here," Sherman said. "Are there going to be some situations where he'll be on the field? Possibly. But right now we're still focusing on the quarterback aspect of it."
Sherman must weigh the risk of playing his backup quarterback at another position where he could be vulnerable to injury vs. Tannehill's ability to compliment Jeff Fuller.
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