Tennessee football will start Jarrett Guarantano once again at the Kentucky Wildcats. But the Volunteers should consider going back to Quinten Dormady.
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It’s still debatable for many Tennessee football fans if beating the Kentucky Wildcats is actually a good thing to begin with. After all, the Vols might be better off losing just to expedite the firing of Butch Jones.
But if you’re thinking purely about the season and turning things around in a micro sense, returning to Quinten Dormady may not be a bad thing. Jones did confirm he’d be able to go after sitting out against Alabama due to a shoulder injury.
And the coaches might want to turn to him sooner rather than later. In fact, if Jarrett Guarantano is ineffective against the Wildcats in the first half, that’s exactly what they should do.
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Guarantano has yet to lead a touchdown drive against an FBS school this year. And he’s had three chances, seeing lots of action against the UMASS Minutemen and then the entire games against the South Carolina Gamecocks and Alabama Crimson Tide.
To be fair, Guarantano has shown some competitive fire. And his first two starts came against two of the best defenses and top defensive coaches in the SEC. So there are plenty of reasons for his struggles.
We have said multiple times that the coaches set him up to fail more than anything else. A redshirt freshman receiving his first two starts for a reeling team against those two schools with his coaches being ultra-predictable has no chance.
However, amidst all of that, it doesn’t excuse zero touchdowns. You’d think Guarantano could just lead one scoring drive. But he’s only led field goal drives. That’s a problem.
This game, if he doesn’t have the offense going by halftime, the coaches should go back to Dormady.
Remember, Dormady faced elite defenses too. In fact, nobody has faced more elite secondaries than Tennessee football this year. Their last three games have all been against elite defenses period.
And the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Florida Gators are both very good in the secondary. But that did not stop Dormady from leading a 95-yard game-tying touchdown drive late against Georgia Tech and then leading the Vols to victory in overtime. And it didn’t stop him from leading two touchdown drives and throwing a beautiful touchdown pass to Ethan Wolf against Florida.
Unlike Guarantano, we have seen Dormady perform with the chips stacked against him. He threw the game-winning touchdown pass against Florida, but John Kelly dropped it. He likely would have led the Vols to victory over South Carolina.
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So if the Vols switch to him against Kentucky, he could likely provide a spark again. Tennessee football needs to get something going. So far, Guarantano has not been the answer on offense. The first half in Lexington should be his final chance before Dormady comes back in.