Butch Jones Hasn’t Played A True Freshmen QB Yet And That’s OK
By Zach Ragan
Sep 28, 2013; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Butch Jones during the second half against the South Alabama Jaguars at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee won 31 to 24. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
I get it, I really do.
Everyone wants to see what the freshmen quarterbacks have to offer.
In fact, you can count me among those that want to know.
A lot of folks are upset that Butch Jones hasn’t found a way to get one of his true freshmen some game action.
There are two points to consider.
- Neither is ready yet.
- Butch hasn’t had the opportunity
I’m sure both of those points will be fiercely debated, but allow me to opine on why I believe those two points to be an absolute truth.
First off, Butch Jones has said, on multiple occasions, that neither Josh Dobbs or Riley Ferguson is ready.
"Jones: As much as everyone wants to see them, it’s my job and it’s my responsibility to them, to their parents, and to our football program to not put them in, if given that luxury, until they’re ready. In our professional opinion right now, they haven’t been ready."
Right off the bat I can say that’s good enough for me.
Butch Jones gets paid millions of dollars to coach football. He’s been a very successful football coach thus far in his career (53-29). I’m just a simple sports blogger, most of you reading are passionate, intelligent fans — none of us (that I’m aware of) are college football coaches.
To us the unknown is a freshman coming into the game and being the next Peyton Manning.
To the coaching staff the unknown is a true freshman, straight out of high school, still finding himself as a football player. Butch Jones knows these guys better than any fan, any beat writer, any radio show host, any ex-player. He knows what he has and it’s his responsibility not to spoil that by throwing one of them out there too early.
And really, what does he have to gain by throwing one of the true freshmen out to the wolves?
Riley Ferguson isn’t going to help the pass-rush. Josh Dobbs isn’t going to go out and run crisp routes. Neither guy can prevent drops and as far as I know neither is going to help set the defensive edge.
Both Ferguson and Dobbs have a bright future. Both are ultimately better options than Justin Worley, but there’s no sense of urgency that requires either being pressed into action.
Right now Butch Jones has the luxury (his words) of letting both of his talented freshmen learn from the sidelines. There’s no reason to rush their development this season, there’s nothing to gain.
As far as the second point goes, even if Jones had hoped to play one of the true freshmen, he hasn’t really had a chance.
Nathan Peterman was clearly the back-up to Justin Worley. He’s the guy that was getting those end of game reps when the Vols had built a huge lead. There was absolutely no reason to play three quarterbacks in the Vols’ big wins, or big losses.
There was also no chance for Jones to play either against South Alabama this past Saturday, in what ended up being a one-touchdown game.
Eventually you’re going to see Riley Ferguson or Josh Dobbs take a snap. It’ll probably be this season at some point, but there’s no reason to rush it.
The longer these guys have to learn, the better they’ll be in their debut. Trust me, Butch Jones is just as excited about the prospect of the true freshmen as the fans are:
"Jones: I’m excited about both quarterbacks, both true freshmen quarterbacks. They’re great competitors, they’re very good football players, and they want to play."
In due time we’ll see what Ferguson and Dobbs have to offer, but until than they’ll be all-americans that have never taken a snap — at least in our minds.