Tennessee football vs. WVU: Vols and Mountaineers keys to the game

10. Jarrett Guarantano or Keller Chryst?

You can’t have a quarterback competition that is unresolved and it not be a key to the game. Tennessee football has had an open quarterback race all offseason, and Jeremy Pruitt has been especially quiet as to which player will actually be the starter for the Vols this year behind center.

The one thing he finally confirmed with his depth chart was something we all suspected: that the race came down to Keller Chryst or Jarrett Guarantano. Chryst is the experienced guy who likely brings more accuracy as a graduate transfer senior from the Stanford Cardinal, but Guarantano is the guy with more potential overall.

In this game, Chryst would probably be the better match-up as the Vols want to control the clock and keep that high-powered WVU offense off the field. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the best throughout the year.

Anyway, whichever player Pruitt and Tyson Helton decide to start will have a big impact on the game. West Virginia’s defense is very shaky. So if Chryst starts, it likely shows that the Vols want to still control the clock against that shaky defense.

If Guarantano starts, it probably means that Pruitt is going all out for the big plays against the unit. We’ll just have to wait and see what decision he makes. Heck, they both could play to provide different value. But any of these moves will clearly drastically impact the game. So there’s no debating that it’s a crucial key.