Wilton Speight named UCLA starting QB; Chip Kelly goes with Michigan transfer

Tom Gatto

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Wilton Speight named UCLA starting QB; Chip Kelly goes with Michigan transfer image

Wilton Speight will be the starting quarterback when Chip Kelly's UCLA coaching tenure begins Saturday.

Speight, the former Michigan starter, was tabbed Thursday to take the first snap against Cincinnati at the Rose Bowl.

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UCLA announced the decision on Twitter:

Speight is a graduate transfer who was eligible to play immediately for the Bruins. He played in 21 games for the Wolverines from 2015-17 and was the No. 1 QB in 2016 when Michigan finished 10-3 overall (7-2 Big Ten).

In 12 games that season, Speight completed 61.6 percent of his pass attempts and threw for 18 touchdowns against seven interceptions.

He was limited to four games in 2017 after suffering a spinal injury.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.