Tennessee Vols: Signs point toward Jarrett Guarantano starting at QB against South Carolina
Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt told reporters on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday that true freshman Brian Maurer, who started the last two games at quarterback for UT, is "probably doubtful" for this weekend's game against South Carolina. If Maurer is unavailable, it will leave Tennessee with two scholarship quarterbacks against the […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Jeremy Pruitt told reporters on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday that true freshman Brian Maurer, who started the last two games at quarterback for UT, is "probably doubtful" for this weekend's game against South Carolina.
If Maurer is unavailable, it will leave Tennessee with two scholarship quarterbacks against the Gamecocks — redshirt junior Jarrett Guarantano and redshirt freshman JT Shrout.
Guarantano doesn't have a lot of goodwill built with the fan base at the moment — especially after his decision to run a quarterback sneak on the goal line against Alabama instead of the play that offensive coordinator Jim Chaney called.
Most fans would probably like to see Shrout get the start against South Carolina, but the comments from Pruitt this week suggest it will likely be Guarantano under center to start the game.
Pruitt said on Wednesday that while he thinks Shrout will be a "really good player one day", he's still learning the Vols' offense.
Shrout, according to Pruitt, ran a completely different offense in high school than what Tennessee runs.
Pruitt: "He comes from a high school where it was more of a kind of a throw it 50, 60 times a game. And that’s not exactly what we’re doing, so there’s things from getting under center and changing some plays at the line of scrimmage, controlling the protection and things like that, that he’s learning. He’s a smart guy, and he’s going to continue to improve at practice. The guy’s never flinched this whole year. He just keeps going to work, and he understands the areas that he needs to work on and improve as a player"
It was noted this week that Shrout received some first team reps during the limited portion of practice that reporters are able to view. That's most likely by design, so Shrout can get some more reps with the ones, in the event that Guarantano needs to leave the game, or proves to be ineffective.
Pruitt: "Obviously, Jarrett has way more experience and has taken more reps in the offense over the last seven to eight weeks. So catching J.T. up, getting him locked in, doing some things that he’s comfortable with is important for our staff and important for him."
There's a good chance that Shrout's number will be called at some point on Saturday. The Vols need him to be ready. But for now, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Guarantano starting against South Carolina.
It's certainly possible that Pruitt changes his mind before Saturday, but he doesn't sound like a coach who is ready to give up on Guarantano just yet.
Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
