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Tennessee football: Jeremy Pruitt not naming starting QB won’t help Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

GAINESVILLE, FL- SEPTEMBER 21: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to pass during the first half of the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FL- SEPTEMBER 21: Jarrett Guarantano #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers looks to pass during the first half of the game against the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 21, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) /
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Ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs, Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt refused to name a starting quarterback. That won’t help the Volunteers.

Who is Jeremy Pruitt kidding? It’s one thing to be distant from the media and the public, as Tennessee football has been ever since he took over as head coach. But he took it to another laughable level this week.

On Monday, during his weekly press conference, he was asked about the quarterback situation between Jarrett Guarantano and Brian Maurer. Coming off the bye week, there’s a chance that a change is coming there. Heck, even J.T. Shrout may be in the mix.

But Pruitt refused to answer who the starting quarterback would be. And he took it to another level by stating exactly why he wouldn’t name the guy. It has something to do with not wanting to reveal anything against the Georgia Bulldogs.

"“We’re not going to give Georgia a scouting report of what we’re going to do this week, so we’re going to rep the guys that we feel like gives us the best opportunity to have success.”"

Seriously? Are we still believing things like this in 2016? Tennessee football pulled off two upsets last year, over the Auburn Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats. In both cases, Pruitt didn’t hide the fact that Guarantano would be the starter. In fact, he never hid it.

Through the first four games of this season, he didn’t hide the fact that Guarantano was the starter. But all of a sudden, after a bye week, he feels like naming a starting quarterback is giving Georgia too much of an advantage?

When has this ever worked? Pruitt is aware that Jake Fromm is starting at quarterback for UGA this weekend. Nobody is hiding that. Nobody who is successful ever hides which player they are going to start at the position.

Related Story. Five reasons Vols should stick with Jeremy Pruitt past 2019. light

This isn’t to say you can’t have two quarterbacks. That position should be performance-based like all positions. However, it is to say that you aren’t giving yourself any advantage by hiding who the guy is going to be the week of a game.

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It’s embarrassing for everybody who follows the sport when coaches act as if this type of stuff gives them an advantage. In college, it’s even more embarrassing given the fact that the game is not as quarterback-driven.

If Pruitt were even going to try this ridiculous game, he would have waited a week to do it against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They are at least a beatable team. Does anybody really believe that Tennessee football is all of a sudden going to pull off an upset against Georgia because Pruitt hid who the starting quarterback was going to be.

Let’s analyze who Georgia may have to prepare for. They’ll either have a pro-style quarterback with a big arm and a nice touch but who struggles with decision-making, a slight dual-threat with zip on the ball who makes all the wrong decisions, or another quarterback with a big arm who makes the right decisions but never has the right touch or accuracy.

Next. Vols could be five mistakes away from 4-0. dark

Yeah, Georgia is really going to have a hard time with Tennessee football not knowing which player will start behind center. That’s a laughable assertion and one nobody should take seriously. Pruitt just embarrassed himself with that kind of talk.

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