Tennessee football: Vols fine without four-star QB Haynes King’s commitment

Tennessee football lost out on 2020 quarterback target Haynes King, who committed to the Texas A&M Aggies. But the Volunteers will be fine without him.

One of the concerns Jeremy Pruitt raised at SEC Media Days was the fact that Tennessee football doesn’t have a quarterback behind Jarrett Guarantano who has played a snap of college ball. He also noted that only three of significance are on the roster.

As a result, he probably was not happy with the news that four-star dual-threat quarterback Haynes King announced his commitment to the Texas A&M Aggies Wednesday. King was one of Tennessee football’s top prospects.

A top 10 player at his position on Rivals out of Longview High School in Longview, Texas, Haynes’s commitment to Jimbo Fisher and the Aggies was revealed in an article by Hayden Henry of the Longview News Journal. It makes sense that he would stay in Texas and play in the SEC for a well-known quarterback guru.

Meanwhile, Tennessee football should not be worried. Sure, they have only three quarterbacks on the roster this year. But Pruitt has done an incredible job recruiting at the position, and the Vols will be fine in the future.

Remember, all three quarterbacks are underclassmen. With the exception of Guarantano, the other two will be here at least through the 2021 season. But the big plus is what Pruitt already has coming in.

Four-star 2020 pro-style quarterback Harrison Bailey out of Georgia, who is a top 50 player nationally and the No. 2 ranked player at his position, has been committed to Rocky Top since last November. He stuck through all the coaching changes, which included bringing in Jim Chaney. Heck, Chaney is probably a reason he stayed on.

Bailey will be a freshman next year and joining JT Shrout, a California guy with a big arm, and Brian Maurer, who knows how to run up-tempo and has great awareness. Are you telling me you can’t find one guy among those three to become a very good quarterback?

When we did our evaluation of the Vols’ 2020 recruiting class at the quarterback position, we noted that with Bailey’s commitment, the Vols don’t need to add anybody else for 2020. That fact hasn’t changed.

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Sure, another quarterback would be nice and would take pressure off when it comes to trying to find the right guys beyond Guarantano. But if it didn’t happen this year, Tennessee football would be fine next year no matter what.

King’s commitment to the Aggies is nothing to worry about. In fact, Pruitt has sold out to run a pro-style offense and use drop-back passers with the quarterbacks in his system. He probably wants to stick with that anyway for consistency and stability, and King could easily mess that up.

Chaney has always been at his best with pro-style quarterbacks. So given the fact that the Vols will have three and could have four next year, they have plenty of time to reload their roster. Bailey’s commitment assures that.

Tennessee football was likely never in the running for King anyway. Again, he could stay in-state and play for a national championship coach who led a Heisman winner. The Vols are fine without him considering what they already have, and they will be fine in the near future as well.