Tennessee football vs. Florida: Vols and Gators keys to the game

7. Jarrett Guarantano’s mobility in the pocket

Florida gave up over 200 rushing yards in their opener to Charleston Southern and then over 300 yards in their loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. There was one major factor that led to both of those rushing outcomes: both teams’ quarterbacks ran for lots of yards.

Against Kentucky, the Gators gave up over 100 yards to the quarterback and the running back. What’s clear, as they continue to learn the 3-4 defense themselves, is their weakness is a mobile quarterback who also has a supporting cast in the backfield.

Tennessee football has half of that: the other running backs. And Jarrett Guarantano was recruited as a dual-threat quarterback, so he should have the mobility to make this an issue once again for the Gators.

However, the Vols have not used his legs at all, even dating back to last year when Butch Jones and Larry Scott were running that awful offense. If Guarantano truly is mobile, they need to put that on display Saturday.

So far, Jeremy Pruitt and Tyson Helton have just had Guarantano dink and dunk plays down the field. They’ve called that making plays, but doing that alone, Keller Chryst is probably the better quarterback. What should be setting Guarantano is his big arm and mobility, none of which the coaches have used yet.

On Saturday, the coaches need to use that as much as possible. We know that Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan, Madre London and Jeremy Banks are playmakers who can run hard. But what they do against the Gators will depend on whether or not Guarantano can keep the defense honest.