There are a lot of reasons to roll with Rickie as long as you possibly can. At this point, I wonder whether he was brought in to be QB#2. Maybe we had a real good feeling that Angeli would come here once it was confirmed that he would not be getting the QB#1 job. But Rickie was brought in as a project to see is we could take advantage of his upside while waiting that out. I don't know.
As a team, the best scenario is Rickie becoming serviceable and finding 3 more wins to get to a bowl. Carney preserves his redshirt, confidence, and his body for that matter. Our QBs are taking some hits this year. Angeli had been wounded a few times before the Clemson injury, including earlier in that game. Carney might need some more size/strength to avoid an injury. And he does not put any tape out there for people to try to steal him from us. If he does adequately, will he want to stay? A lot of college football gets played in Texas or nearby and a lot of money flowing. Someone could offer him bigger bucks just to be in a real competition for QB#1. Oklahoma State, Arkansas, etc.
Meanwhile, if we do not give Rickie every chance to succeed, why bother keeping for next year? If/when we pull him, he is likely "done" here in this NIL environment. If he wants to drop down to C-USA or Mac, so be it. But we need to know one way or another whether he is worth the ongoing investment of time and money. I think that is 3 games minimum, especially to see if he makes progress between SMU and Pitt during the bye week.
EDIT: Personally, I think he is going to be the type of QB that is up and down. Up and down plays. Up and down drives. Up and down games. 1 or 2 What turnovers a game. Just when you think he has turned the corner, he regresses. Just when you think it is time to give up, he shows you something. He is QB#2 and not QB#1 for a reason. It is up to the rest of the offense, the defense, and the special teams to keep the games from getting away from us during those bad plays and drives.
