'He has to announce this sooner than later' – Urban Meyer has some important advice for Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel
Urban Meyer had some advice for Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel on this week's edition of The Triple Option podcast. The Vols, due to the loss of Nico Iamaleava to the NCAA transfer portal, will feature a true quarterback competition this summer/fall between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman […]
Urban Meyer had some advice for Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel on this week's edition of The Triple Option podcast.
The Vols, due to the loss of Nico Iamaleava to the NCAA transfer portal, will feature a true quarterback competition this summer/fall between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
Meyer thinks that Heupel needs to name a starting quarterback within the first two weeks of fall training camp.
"The minute you said you got a quarterback issue, I go right to their schedule," said Meyer. "And here's the problem…you have to name this quarterback within two weeks of training camp. There's no chance that you can let this thing bleed out, because the team has to know who your quarterback is. So a guy (Aguilar) that's just stepping on campus now, a guy (Merklinger) that's only attempted nine passes. You have to (name a starter quickly).
"And Josh Heupel played quarterback…he knows enough about quarterback play. He has to announce this sooner than later. And they got Syracuse, East Tennessee State, and Georgia (the first three games of the season) — you can't come out of that thing at 1-2. Because then you are back in the underlying screwed category. Because of the rest of your schedule, you're a mess (if UT starts the season at 1-2)."
I'm sure Heupel would love to know who his starting quarterback will be sooner rather than later. But it's impossible to know how this battle will play out, or when it will be obvious that a quarterback has won the battle.
Meyer is a national championship-winning coach — any advice he has to offer is worth listening to. But this is a unique scenario for the Vols, and I'm not sure Meyer's advice is applicable in this particular situation.
