Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Alex Golesh spoke to reporters on Wednesday and, unsurprisingly, he was asked about UT's ongoing quarterback battle.

Golesh's comments made it sound like the battle is over — the Vols just aren't saying which quarterback won the job, yet.

The first-year Tennessee offensive coordinator spoke in the past tense while discussing the battle, which seems to indicate that a battle is no longer happening.

"We literally gave them all (Harrison Bailey, Joe Milton, and Hendon Hooker) the equal opportunity with all the best skill guys, with the best (offensive) line," said Golesh.

"In terms of what I thought was going to happen, we kind of let it happen and saw what happened," added Golesh. "They all had an equal opportunity to go do it.”

Using words like "happened" and "had" makes it sound like the battle is in the rearview mirror.

If that's the case, then why won't Heupel say who the starter is going to be?

Well, mostly because there's nothing to gain.

Why give Bowling Green one quarterback to focus on? As it is right now, with the battle still appearing to be "wide open", Bowling Green has to prepare for three different types of quarterbacks.

There are also a couple of other reasons it makes sense to keep it a secret.

Competition is a good thing. It brings out the best in quarterbacks.

Then there's also the fact that Heupel doesn't need another one of his quarterbacks hitting the transfer portal (as Brian Maurer recently did).

Not revealing the winner of the battle gives the Vols some confidence that none of the Volunteers' remaining scholarship quarterbacks will hit the portal before the start of the season.

What may seem like an insignificant detail to fans, is a big deal to coaches. And that's why despite the fact that Tennessee's quarterback battle might be over, we still likely won't know who the starter will be until just days before the game against Bowling Green.

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