Tennessee football: Vols should keep Quinten Dormady as starting QB

Tennessee football starting quarterback Quinten Dormady has struggled at times. But the Volunteers should stick with him over Jarrett Guarantano.

After such a bad loss to the Florida Gators last week, it’s easy for Tennessee football fans to be begging for the backup quarterback now. After all, there was a competition between Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano before the season began.

And through three games, the coaches have mostly stuck with Dormady. So when he threw three interceptions, including one on the goal line and a pick-six, last weekend, it was worth re-starting the conversation about who should start.

That talk likely magnified with the reports that he was the one to check out of the running play on the half-yard line and throw a fade.

However, despite all of that, Dormady should remain the starter. The junior quarterback has only started three games in his career, and for all the mistakes he’s made, he also has made amazing plays.

Don’t forget how clutch he was leading Tennessee football back against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and engineering a 95-yard drive late in the fourth.

Against Florida, he also led the team back to tie the game after they were down 13-3 and 20-10. Part of that was a beautiful touchdown pass to Ethan Wolf between two defenders.

And he also made what should have been the game-winning touchdown throw to John Kelly, but Kelly made his one mistake of the game in dropping it.

Yes, Dormady has made mistakes on the year. But last week he was going up against one of the top secondaries in the country with an amazing pass-rush as well. Those are the only two good things Florida has on its team.

Butch Jones and Larry Scott never should have put him in some of those positions to fail in the first place.

And he still threw for 259 yards and a touchdown. It’s hard to imagine Guarantano doing much better, especially when he throws from the pocket.

Now, it is true that Dormady needs to get in rhythm more quickly. And he’s got to be a bit more poised when there’s a rush.

However, these are weaknesses he can fix. His upside is huge.

That touchdown pass to Wolf was a telling sign of just how accurate this guy is. He’s also clutch, and he has intangibles.

The players clearly rally around him as well.

Next: 4 things Butch Jones should have to do to keep his job

Guarantano will have his time. He’s got a great future. But right now, Dormady just looks comfortable commanding the offense. Turning against him now would be a huge mistake.

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