Vols Football: Butch Jones Not Happy With Quarterbacks

Tennessee Volunteers quarterbacks Justin Worley, Joshua Dobbs and Nathan Peterman were not the objects of Butch Jones’ praise on Thursday after practice.

In fact, they drew the ire of the Volunteers’ head coach.

Jones was not pleased at all with the quarterbacks’ performance. His comments after practice, to quote Bryan Adams, cut like a knife.

"[We’re] not where we need to be. Every individual needs to take accountability for their performance. We’re not playing winning football at that position [Quarterback] right now. I’m always going to be brutally honest with you. Those three individuals need to step up…..Efficiency is what we’re hunting and we’re not efficient right now at that position…..Our passing game needs to make monumental strides in the next couple of days moving forward."

Jones is a great motivator and while the quarterback situation on Rocky Top is less than ideal, I think his comments are designed to motivate more than anything.

This is a situation where I believe the team would benefit from Jones naming a starter.

It’s pretty obvious that Justin Worley is going to be the guy once again this year. He has the most experience and he protects the football better than Dobbs or Peterman.

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Worley was starting to figure it out last season before his injury against Alabama. His performances against Georgia and South Carolina made him look more like a playmaker, rather than a game-manager.

And this season the Vols will have even more weapons for the eventual starter at quarterback. Worley is a guy that can get those players the ball.

Plus the Vols are breaking a new offensive line. You don’t want someone that is unable to take care of the ball playing behind an inexperienced offensive line.

Josh Dobbs might be a little quicker on his feet, but Worley knows when to keep it and head toward the sideline. He won’t win any races, but, as Keith Hernandez says, he keeps his feet under him.

And sometimes that’s all you need to do.

Butch Jones wants an “alpha male” to step up and take the job.

But you can only wait around for so long.

It’s time for Jones to publicly name Worley as the starter. Let Worley take the reigns and start building chemistry with players like Josh Malone, Von Pearson and Ethan Wolf.

First team practice reps in August are invaluable. Last season, it took the Vols until their first game in October to hit their stride offensively.

There’s no reason to delay that process even further this year

Jones constantly talks about a “player-led team”. If that’s what he wants, then this needs to be Justin Worley’s offense — for better or worse.

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