On Thursday, Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead named Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens the Bulldogs starting quarterback for the 2019 season. Stevens beat out returning MSU backup QB Keytaon Thompson and now Thompson has reportedly entered his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal.

The news comes via AL.com’s Matt Zenitz, who has been the leading news breaker when it comes to transfer portal stories. As many fans are well-aware, a player entering his name into the transfer portal does not mean he has to leave the school, but allows other teams to begin recruiting him (and host him on campus).

Thompson is entering his junior season. The class of 2017 signee has not yet used a redshirt season as part of his four seasons in five years of NCAA eligibility. Over the last two seasons, Thompson appeared in 19 games, rushing 99 times for 672 yards and 10 touchdowns while going 50-of-105 as a passer for 846 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

Moorhead called the Stevens-Thompson fall camp battle a “great, great competition” when speaking with reporters on Thursday.

“It was a great, great competition. Both guys are similarly sized and provide equal threats in the run game,” Moorhead said. “We said the decision-making was going to come down to who could make explosive plays, who could minimize turnovers and who could throw the ball with the best accuracy on a consistent manner.

“Tommy jumped out of the gates strong at the beginning of camp closing into the first scrimmage. KT (Thompson) kind of closed the gap and had a real nice first scrimmage. From that point forward, Tommy created separation and continued to do that towards the tail-end of camp.”

He was also about how Thompson handled the news that Stevens would be the starter.

“I won’t say he took it well, that’s not what I want to infer but he understands the process… He’s only one play away from getting into the game, he can’t prep like a backup,” Moorhead told reporters.

MSU opens the 2019 season against Louisiana on Aug. 31.