Tennessee football appears set at starting quarterback for 2019. But here is how the Volunteers are looking at the position overall.
For the first time since 2016, Tennessee football is entering the year with everybody knowing who the starting quarterback is going to be. Hey, the last two seasons that was the case just happen to be the only two in which they finished with nine wins and a top 25 ranking over the past decade.
Now, the Vols enter with a returning starting quarterback and an offensive coordinator who, the last time he was on Rocky Top, also worked with a junior quarterback who was once a four-star recruit. And that quarterback, Tyler Bray, had a historically great season.
Yes, Jim Chaney and Jarrett Guarantano is the story for Tennessee football this year. However, it’s not the only story related to the Vols behind center. And now it’s time to take a look at how they stand overall there.
Since losing Joshua Dobbs, UT as a program has taken a nosedive. Butch Jones was fired, athletic director John Currie was fired, the Vols suffered back to back losing seasons, including the worst in school history, and had a publicly embarrassing coaching search.
Simply put, Dobbs appeared to cover for a program about to collapse. If the Vols are to return to any sort of prominence under Jeremy Pruitt, it will depend on their quarterback play. So it’s time to take a look at that in our first positional preview for 2019.
More than other SEC programs that have won titles in the past with the exception of the Florida Gators, the Vols have always taken pride in their quarterbacks. From Condredge Holloway to Heathy Shuler to Peyton Manning to Tee Martin to Dobb, signal-callers have always been a major storyline on Rocky Top.
This year, it’s no different. Our previews include a look at the starters, the backups, the biggest questions and a final take. So let’s go ahead and begin our breakdowns. This is our preview of quarterbacks for the 2019 Tennessee football season.