Tennessee football: Five reasons Vols should stick with Jarrett Guarantano

3. Mistakes can be corrected

As we mentioned in the opening slide, Tennessee football has its fourth offensive coordinator and its second system in four years. These are the only four years Jarrett Guarantano has been on campus. So even as a redshirt junior, of course he is going to need time to adjust to what Jim Chaney likes to do, which is indeed a bit different from what Tyson Helton does.

Meanwhile, Guarantano missing open guys and going to his first target or the check-down too quickly is likely a result of not trusting his offensive linemen. And he shouldn’t at this point. We mentioned why on the previous slide. However, that unit is likely to get better, and eventually Guarantano will get better in the process.

Because of that, there’s no reason to pull the trigger on him yet. He’s missed a few blatantly obvious passes, but as the line gets better, he’ll likely get more used to having time to go through his progressions. It seems like he has time now, but that has a lot to do with the plays slow-developing in general.

Again, when you’re playing in a new system and getting used to the protection you have, you’ll make some early mistakes. Guarantano likes to trust his guys to make play. He just needs a bit more time to develop in Chaney’s system and to see the interior blocking get better. His play is not broken beyond repair. Everybody needs time to develop, and Guarantano is no different.