Winters could not be reached for comment.
Murphy has discussed the possibility of using both Winters and Chapple, though he did not specify the roles they would play.
“It’s not outside the realm of possibility that we use two quarterbacks,” he said. “How and when depends on a lot of factors that you’re not going to really know about until you’re in the game.”
Harvard’s head coach has confronted situations in the past like the one he faces now. In 2002, Murphy had to choose between starting then-captain Neil Rose ’03 and Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05—two of the best quarterbacks in program history.
Murphy decided to start the sophomore in a number of the games that year, benching the team’s captain. Fitzpatrick is now the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills.
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“There’s always decisions you have to make [and] you just can’t necessarily foresee them,” Murphy said. “I’ve been a head coach for 25 years—you do what’s best for the team, and you do what your gut tells you to do. And is your gut always right? No, but 80 percent of the time your gut gives you a chance.”
—Staff writer E. Benjamin Samuels can be reached at samuels@college.harvard.edu.