Tennessee football week 3 stock report: Vols suffering on line of scrimmage

Stocks to sell

Jarrett Guarantano

Jeremy Pruitt is defending him for managing the game. He is No. 10 in the nation in completion percentage for a quarterback at 72.2 percent. And he has no interceptions. But Jarrett Guarantano has been taking some of the safest passes all year, very rarely throwing it deep. As a result, he also only has two touchdown passes and is only averaging 165 yards a game.

At some point, Tennessee football is going to need Guarantano to become more of a playmaker, regardless of what Pruitt says. As a result, I’d say his stock will fall from where it is right now. Fans are very high on him simply for his efficiency at this point, but the Vols simply don’t have the talent just to be efficient in SEC play. They need Guarantano to be a big-time playmaker.

Secondary

The Vols are getting a lot of praise for their secondary shutting down the passing attack over the past two weeks. They held both the UTEP Miners and ETSU Bucs to under 100 yards passing. But it’s not going to last. I’ve been saying it all year, and I’ll say it again. Defensive backs always struggle the most with the transition to the 3-4, and this year will be no different. Once these guys start facing real SEC talent on offense, it’s going to be an issue.

If you want proof that the defensive backs will struggle, look at what happened against the Miners. The linebackers forced Kai Locksley to make a lot of bad, desperate throws, but the Vols could not come away with any turnovers or interceptions. That’s a problem. Not being able to capitalize on bad throws will be a killer in SEC play, and it’ll show soon enough.