Tennessee football: Ranking Vols position groups by spring practice play

4. Quarterback

Position coach: Chris Weinke

Notable players: Jarrett Guarantano

Ah, the quarterback position. Jarrett Guarantano has been Tennessee football’s starter for a year and a half in two different systems, and he’s now entering his fourth year in the Vols program overall. He’s also entering it with his fourth offensive coordinator and second season in a pro-style offense.

Given the way Jeremy Pruitt has touted Guarantano consistently, we take anything said about him with a grain of salt. However, Guarantano was clearly getting a lot of respect from his teammates in this offseason, and there’s no denying the fact that he was earning praise from the coaches overall.

It’s not just Guarantano that puts this unit higher on the list, though. We also had to note the fact that JT Shrout’s big arm was getting a lot of love, and Brian Maurer showed he can thrive in a hurry-up offense.

In fact, Maurer, not Guarantano, led the first scoring drive in the spring game. However, Guarantano was clearly the guy who stood out in that one as the MVP of the game, and his play was enough for us to put the quarterback position high on the list.

The accuracy still comes and goes, but good decisions and a solid arm can’t be ignored. Shrout and Maurer, meanwhile, did enough to show that the Vols are going to have depth at the position. Even if they do need to develop more, they showed that the talent is there, and after just spring practice, that’s what you need to see.