Throughout the summer, we’ve previewed some of the big position battles on Tennessee’s roster for this upcoming fall. Tennessee has many position battles this season, and some battles are just for one starting spot while others affect an entire unit.
We started our series off by looking at who will help Jauan Jennings catch passes in the wide receiver group. Then we looked at who will step up in the defensive backfield now that Cam Sutton is gone. We followed that up by previewing who will be fighting to start alongside Kendal Vickers at defensive tackle. Then we took a look at who will be replacing Derek Barnett, Corey Vereen, and LaTroy Lewis at defensive end this year. Earlier this week, we looked at who will be fighting to start alongside Todd Kelly Jr. at the safety position.
Now we finish our series by looking at arguably the biggest position battle the Vols have heading into this season: the quarterback battle.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or completely ignoring Vol-related news in 2017, you know about the Vols’ quarterback battle between junior Quinten Dormady and redshirt freshman Jarrett Guarantano. It’s been the talk of the offseason.
Last season, Tennessee had one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the country in Josh Dobbs. Now the Vols enter this season without a single career start at the quarterback position.
Quinten Dormady has at least played on the field some and has been in the system for two-plus years now. In his seven game appearances (always in garbage time), Dormady has completed 24 of his 39 pass attempts for 357 yards and one touchdown. The most extensive time he’s been on the field in his career came last year during Tennessee’s game against Tennessee Tech. Dormady completed nine of this 13 passes for 109 yards in that game.
Dormady also put on quite a show during Tennessee’s Orange and White Game back in April. He was a perfect 10-of-10 on his passes during the spring game, and it’s because of that and his experience in the system that Dormady is the perceived favorite to land the starting job heading into the fall.
But Jarrett Guarantano won’t let the battle end that quickly.
Although he’s yet to set foot on the field in a meaningful capacity, Guarantano is a legitimate candidate to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback. Guarantano redshirted during his freshman campaign last year and came in as one of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the 2016 recruiting class. During practices last year and in the spring this year, Guarantano has shown off his strong arm and athleticism.
And for all the talk Dormady’s performance in the Orange and White Game got, Guarantano had a solid outing himself as well. Guarantano completed four of his five passes during the scrimmage and would’ve had a chance to improve upon those numbers even more if Tennessee hadn’t canceled the rest of the game after halftime due to inclement weather.
Fans will argue that Guarantano, in fact, is a better fit for Tennessee’s offense because he is more of a threat as a runner than Dormady.
But the stats don’t necessarily back that up. At least, not the stats from high school.
In his high school career, Guarantano carried the ball 251 times for 523 yards and 12 touchdowns. For comparison, Dormady ran 83 times for 223 yards and six scores. Dormady’s yard per carry average was actually higher than Guarantano’s in high school.
In reality, both quarterbacks are likely good fits for the Vols’ offense. Tennessee doesn’t necessarily need a quarterback to run as effectively as Josh Dobbs did in his career. The Vols’ offense just needs a good, solid quarterback for the offense to work.
This battle likely won’t be decided till late into fall camp. Even then, it’s highly likely the Vols won’t have a starter named by the time they take on Georgia Tech on September 4th to start the season.
Will Tennessee start the season with a dual-quarterback system? Only time will tell, but it appears the Vols do have two very solid options at the position regardless.
