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Tennessee football: Vols have opportunity with Will McBride in at quarterback

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 09: Tennessee Volunteers fans cheer during the first half of the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Neyland Stadium on September 9, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee football defeated the Southern Miss Golden Eagles with Will McBride as quarterback in the second half. That gives the Volunteers an opportunity.

Tennessee football fans have a right to be angry about Butch Jones wasting a redshirt on Will McBride to play him in the Vols’ defeat over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. But the injury to Jarrett Guarantano alone was real.

And on top of that, it builds the Vols for the future.

Look, Tennessee had two quarterbacks get hurt this season. That’s highly unlikely to repeat itself. And with the exception of Guarantano, the Vols could use another redshirt next year.

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This is why Vols fans shouldn’t be upset about the decision to burn McBride’s redshirt on Saturday. Sure, he was awful for the most part.

But he won the game. And this team is still likely to have another quarterback come in next year.

On top of that, they can always redshirt McBride next year after burning his redshirt this year. Nobody seriously expected McBride to really even compete for the starting job next year.

Unless Quinten Dormady transfers, McBride will once again fall to third string. And if Tennessee football gets a new coach, then burning McBride’s redshirt means nothing.

After all, the new coach would probably like some evidence of in-game experience from all the quarterbacks. And that should make McBride’s play an opportunity for Tennessee football.

The Vols should then be able to use his play as evidence for where to go in the future. And they also have a chance to use the redshirt on him in the future. It’s completely unnecessary to worry about wasting the redshirt on him by playing him this year.

Should Tennessee football stay healthy, the Vols will likely redshirt him next year. And if the other quarterbacks live up to their hype, then it doesn’t matter who is head coach. Burning a redshirt would be completely meaningless because they would be stacked with talent.

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