Pruitt: Guarantano’s “Measuring Stick” is Saturday, not Practice

Tennessee was able to take advantage of its lone bye week during  Jeremy Pruitt’s first year as head coach.

Despite embarrassing early season losses to West Virginia and Florida, the Vols were able to bounce back with a surprising effort against Georgia on the road. In Athens, Tennessee held strong and only trailed 24-12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter to the No. 7 team in the country. The effort was a stark difference, and it ultimately sparked the makings of a huge upset on the Plains against Auburn two weeks later.

But sandwiched in between the Georgia game and the Auburn game was UT’s bye week. It was an open date that Pruitt’s squad took great advantage of, and they used that extra week of preparation to put together the plan to upset the Tigers.

Once again, Tennessee finds itself in a position where it has to take advantage of the open week.

“We have plenty of opportunity to take advantage of four practices,” Pruitt said during the SEC teleconference on Wednesday afternoon. “We need it. We’re playing a lot of young guys, and we’ve had to move some guys around based off injuries. So it gives them an opportunity to learn their position.”

The Vols sit at 1-3 following the conclusion of the first quarter of Pruitt’s second year in Knoxville. On the surface, Tennessee’s record looks really bad. The Vols suffered a terrible loss to Georgia State to begin the season, a defensive gaffe led to a loss to BYU a week later, and then following its lone win over Tennessee-Chattanooga, UT lost by 31 to Florida on the road.

Those who simply look at the box score and don’t actually watch the games have gone ahead and penciled Pruitt in on the hot seat. But those who have watched every single snap this season realize that the Vols’ problems extend further than the head ball coach.

Sure, the Vols lack talent, depth, and a winning culture. But with good quarterback play, Tennessee is likely 3-1 on the season entering Saturday’s contest with No. 3 Georgia (4-0, 1-0 SEC).

Instead, poor quarterback play has doomed the Vols.

The quarterback wasn’t the sole problem against Georgia State, but it played a factor. Then, against BYU, redshirt junior Jarrett Guarantano left multiple touchdowns on the field, which made sophomore cornerback Alontae Taylor’s gaffe magnified. Against Florida, the Vols may not have won with good quarterback play, but it would have at least given them a chance late in the game.

Pruitt stated during his Monday press conference that Guarantano had a good week of practice during the bye week. During his Wednesday press conference following practice, however, he was quick to point out that the measuring stick is every single Saturday, not practice.

Guarantano’s measuring stick has been snapped in half, and as a result, it appears there’s an open quarterback situation.

“For Jarrett (Guarantano), it’s an opportunity,” Pruitt said. “He’s had really good practices the entire year. He’s looking forward to get a chance to improve himself, just like we all are in our program.

“When you look at our body of work that we see every single day, how hard everybody’s working to prepare to be at their best, and we’ve not been there, and the measuring stick is on Saturdays. It’s why we do it, it’s why we got in the business, why we’re here. This will be a great opportunity for us.”

As was the case on Monday, Pruitt was unwilling to divulge his plans for the quarterback position on Wednesday after practice. On “Vol Calls,” though, Pruitt said all three scholarship quarterbacks could play on Saturda.

Regardless, one thing is for certain whether it’s acknowledged or not: If Tennessee is going to ‘win’ the bye week like it did last season, then the Guarantano of 2018 is going to have to show up in 2019

“I thought especially this week our quarterbacks, all three of them, have thrown the ball extremely well,” Pruitt claimed following Wednesday’s practice. “(They) have done a much better job handling the offense.

“We continue to get some guys back, which is good for our football team. You look at last week, in the bye week, lots of things we had to improve on. I feel like our guys have worked hard to take some of that stuff from last week back into this week.”