Tennessee football: Former Vols QB Quinten Dormady could start for CMU

Tennessee football transfer quarterback Quinten Dormady went from Butch Jones to Jim McElwain. He left the Volunteers for the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Quinten Dormady began 2017 as the starting quarterback for Tennessee football only to be benched after the fifth game and suffer a season-ending injury in the sixth game as the Vols stumbled to their worst season in school history and saw Butch Jones get fired. One of UT’s losses was to the Florida Gators, who were led by Jim McElwain, who was also fired in 2017.

Afterward, Dormady transferred to the Houston Cougars but only threw five passes. With the NCAA’s new redshirt rule, he was able to transfer again as a result, and this time went to the school where Jones got his first head coaching job, the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Only now, CMU is led by McElwain, who took over after they fired John Bonamego following a 1-11 season. That is a lot of connections between the Vols, Gators, Chippewas, Jones and McElwain. Dormady is the connection to all of them.

Now, though, Dormady is in line to be the starter for CMU. According to a report from Central Michigan Life, the senior graduate transfer appears to have won the starting job. So he finally gets a chance after being held back at Houston and on Rocky Top.

So it looks like Dormady went from incompetence led by Jones to incompetence led by McElwain. However, he is actually in a much better situation. McElwain at least is good with pro-style quarterbacks and has experience working with them, even if he has no common sense as a head coach.

And remember, Dormady himself has skill. He showed the clutch gene with two late touchdown drives in the Vols’ double-overtime win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in 2017. Also, he proved to be deadly accurate with protection.

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As a result, this is a great chance for Dormady to finally make a statement in his final year of college eligibility. He was scapegoated by Jones for the issues plaguing the team in 2017 en route to their 3-2 start, but Jones was trying to cover for his gross incompetence in the loss to Florida and Larry Scott’s horrible play-calling in their shutout loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

In reality, none of that was Dormady’s fault. He simply wasn’t a fit for that horrible system, which could only be run if a guy like Joshua Dobbs was in it. McElwain will run a much better system for Dormady, so he should have a great chance to make a name for himself this year.

Hey, despite his incompetence, Jones did win two MAC titles in three years at CMU. McElwain, meanwhile, went 10-3 his third year with the Colorado State Rams and won the SEC East twice. So when they are going up against much lesser competition, both coaches can be effective. That will be great for Dormady this year.