It's getting very close to the time roughly mid-way through camp that Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said he wanted to choose a winner from his three quarterbacks – Barry Brunetti, Randall Mackey and Zack Stoudt – so that guy could become the focus of the coaching and preparation.

In his public comments Nutt and offensive coordinator David Lee appear no closer to that decision.

If in fact they intend to make the call soon, then there's a lot riding on Saturday's scrimmage for the three candidates. A winner named on Sunday or Monday would have two full weeks of prep time as the starter going into the Sept. 3 season opener against BYU.

After Tuesday's workout Nutt had good things to say about Mackey, who was the first man up in the rotation.

“He's really stepped it up the last two days,” Nutt said.

Practices are closed after four periods now, so we really don't see much beyond stretch. In the workouts I've seen none of the quarterbacks have stood out. It's not like they're struggling with sacks and turnovers. That's not it. It just looks like streaks of accuracy but nothing, obviously, that's left a coach saying, “There's the guy.”

A clear leader, someone to rally around, would be nice to have, but I don't think there's cause for alarm at this point. There are three guys who are still learning and competing.

Maybe there's cause for concern if nothing has changed a week from now. You'd like a guy to jump up and win the job, not have it awarded to someone because you have to have a starter.