What will Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee football do if Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Hurts transfers? Could the Volunteers go after him?
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What if Tennessee football entered the biggest free agent race in college history? That’s how Jalen Hurts’s father framed this scenario, and he’s not entirely wrong. Hurts is in the quarterback battle of his life under Nick Saban with Tua Tagovailoa.
Meanwhile, his father Averion Hurts told Bleacher Report that the quarterback would transfer if he didn’t win the starting job. After being benched in the national championship and watching Tagovailoa lead the comeback to beat the Georgia Bulldogs, that’s a strong possibility.
So then comes the next question on Rocky Top. Would Jeremy Pruitt and Tyson Helton go after Hurts? It’s a very interesting question that has numerous layers.
Remember, Pruitt and Helton turned their backs basically on the two four-star quarterbacks committed to the 2018 Tennessee football class under Butch Jones, Michael Penix and Adrian Martinez. That’s because they were dual-threats, and the coaches were clearly looking for pro-style passers.
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That would make it clear the Vols wouldn’t go after Hurts. However, as uncertain as the Vols’ starting quarterback situation is for this year, it’s just as uncertain for next year, even if they solve it this year. Remember, Stanford Cardinal graduate transfer Keller Chryst is coming in the summer, and there’s a great chance he could win the starting job. He only has one year of eligibility, though, still leaving 2019 wide open.
Jarrett Guarantano and Will McBride are completely unproven in this system and have combined to win a total of one game in their college careers. We know nothing about what the future holds for JT Shrout.
Adding Hurts could bring some certainty. If the Vols pursued him, he could sit out this year behind Chryst and be the starter next year. It would end up being the perfect situation.
Hurts and Pruitt are obviously familiar with each other after their last two years in Tuscaloosa together. So it’s not like he would be walking into foreign territory on Rocky Top.
However, this is just something to think about. My guess is that Tennessee football won’t pursue him. Hurts’s style is to run if the first read isn’t there. To be fair to him, that’s how the coaches have taught him to play the game because of his mobility. But it’s not a good trait against an elite 3-4 defense like what Alabama or Georgia runs.
Meanwhile, Helton’s offense is about getting rid of the ball quickly, which limits the mobility of quarterbacks. At the same time, quarterbacks have to go through their reads very quickly if there are multiple options. So he wouldn’t be the best fit for what the coaches are trying to run in Knoxville.
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Still, there’s the off-chance that he’s capable of doing those things. Maybe the Alabama system simply didn’t coach him to. And maybe Pruitt saw it when nobody else did. Although the pursuit is not likely, it’s a possibility. So the question was worth asking.