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Austyn Carta-Samuels won't be ready to play on Saturday when Vanderbilt travels to Texas A&M. That means that Patton Robinette will get the start against the #16 Aggies on the road.
Robinette, a redshirt freshman, had his first meaningful action as a Commodore last week when he stepped in for Carta-Samuels and led Vanderbilt to a 31-27 upset win over Georgia. Vandy trailed by 13 points in the fourth quarter of that game, but Robinette's steady hand helped guide this team to their biggest win since 2008. The young quarterback finished the game with 107 passing yards, one interception, and one rushing touchdown.
Head coach James Franklin announced Robinette's role on Thursday morning. As is his style, he declined to comment further on Carta-Samuels's leg injury, noting only that the senior quarterback got a second opinion from a doctor on Wednesday. It's unclear just how long "ACS" will be out for the Commodores.
Redshirt sophomore Josh Grady will be Robinette's backup on Saturday, and Franklin did not discount the athletic underclassman's shot to earn some snaps in the future.
Patton is the starter. Josh Grady is the backup. And that’s just for this game. There’s always an open competition for every position, so Josh will have the ability to compete for the job. But Austyn, based on the information I have right now, is out this week and then we’ll see what the future holds.
Carta-Samuels, who was averaging more than 260 passing yards per game this season, had been putting up big numbers for the Commodores, but had also gone 0-3 in conference play leading up to the Georgia game. A big performance from Robinette on Saturday could open some speculation into a possible quarterback battle in Nashville.