What Should We Make Of Riley Ferguson’s Potential Departure From Tennessee Football Team

The supposed savior of Tennessee football is not expected to be a part of the program this fall.

Riley Ferguson, according to Butch Jones (via Volquest), will likely head home to North Carolina, essentially narrowing down the four-man quarterback competition at UT to three players.

It was thought that Ferguson, who had the most upside of the group, could compete for the starting job this fall.

A lot of fans had already anointed Ferguson as “the guy”, a reckless assumption since he had never played in a college game. The closest he came to game action was this year’s orange and white game, where he looked the worst of the four quarterbacks.

Ferguson’s potential departure means that either Justin Worley, Joshua Dobbs or Nathan Peterman will be Tennessee’s starting quarterback this fall.

You can’t fully remove Peterman from the equation, but it’s a good bet that he’ll be the third-string quarterback this season.

That means that the battle is essentially down to Dobbs and Worley, which is probably best for Tennessee anyway.

There’s really no way that Ferguson, someone who’s never taken a snap in a game, could’ve been expected to line up under center behind an entirely new offensive line.

The results would’ve been ugly at best.

It’s not going to be pretty regardless of who wins the job, but with Worley having the most experience (plus he takes care of the ball the best), it makes the most sense to name him the starter.

The team was clicking under Worley in 2013 before he went down with a thumb injury. While Dobbs came in and performed admirably, it was clear there was a drop-off.

But even though Dobbs didn’t perform as well as Worley, you could still make a case for him starting before Ferguson.

Dobbs, who looked the best of the quarterbacks in the spring game, showed an ability to make plays with his legs during his time as the starting quarterback in 2013. He also showed this in the spring game with a  59 yard touchdown run.

That’s an important attribute as you can be assured that Tennessee quarterbacks will be running for their life this upcoming season.

Ferguson also has the ability to make plays with his legs, but he hasn’t proved that he can do it during the course of a game. Dobbs has proved it.

Overall I don’t think Ferguson’s likely exit from Knoxville will have much of an impact in 2014 and beyond. Sure he had the most upside of the group, but he was also a complete wildcard. There’s really no way to know what you’d get from him until you saw him on the field (just like with Nathan Peterman and the Florida game).

The Vols are making quarterback their first priority in the 2015 recruiting class. Ferguson’s departure, if anything, will make Tennessee an even more attractive program to the nation’s elite 2015 quarterback recruits.

It’s never good to lose depth at any position. This move will leave the Vols with only three scholarship quarterbacks. Last season that would’ve meant that a walk-on was starting at quarterback.

Hopefully the injury bug won’t bite the Vols again this season, but otherwise this means very little to the Vols bowl game aspirations in 2014.