Resurgent Tennessee football passing game validates Vols bringing Tee Martin home

An elite passing attack by Tennessee football is a major testament to Jeremy Pruitt bringing home former Volunteers quarterback Tee Martin.

When Jeremy Pruitt took the Tennessee football job in December, he lured Tyson Helton away from the USC Trojans to be offensive coordinator. Helton had been the passing game coordinator there while serving under offensive coordinator Tee Martin.

Without Helton, the Trojans’ offense tanked along with Martin’s value as a coach. He was demoted and then fired by Clay Helton. After Helton left to take the head coaching job of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, Pruitt brought back Jim Chaney to run the offense. He then brought Martin home to serve as passing game coordinator, the title Helton had at USC when Martin was OC.

At the start of this year, though, Martin’s value wasn’t looking any better. The former UT quarterback who is beloved for winning a national championship in 1998 oversaw a passing offense ripe with mistakes and inconsistencies. Now, he is also the receivers coach, and that unit was doing it’s job. But Tennessee football’s passing game as a whole tanked.

Fast-forward to now. Since that 1-4 start, the Vols have dealt with three different starting quarterbacks. All that’s happened, though, is the passing attack has taken off. Chaney stayed conservative against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but when he threw it with Jarrett Guarantano in the second half, there was only one incompletion along with a touchdown.

Using two quarterbacks against the South Carolina Gamecocks, UT had over 350 yards passing. The same thing happened for them against the Kentucky Wildcats, as they went over 200 yards passing. But nothing made Martin look better than what happened at the Missouri Tigers.

Guarantano throwing for over 400 yards is one thing. Doing it with three 100-yard wide receivers, though, means the coach who deserves the most credit for what happened in Tennessee football’s win that day is Martin.

Remember, he coaches receivers while coordinating the passing game. So a passing attack with receivers putting up those numbers is all about him, and he did it against a top 25 pass defense that may be the best in the SEC. In the process, Martin helped Guarantano surpass some of his own performances on Rocky Top with that game.

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All of a sudden, his value is back up. Martin and Chaney have clearly developed a level of chemistry in recent weeks that really has this passing offense looking efficient. And now, bringing him back home makes Pruitt look really good.

It’s not always a sure thing when you bring a beloved figure back home in a different occupation, particularly as a coach. And Martin, by rejecting Butch Jones’s offer to come home back in 2013 (although that was probably the right decision then) and then getting passed over for the head coaching job by Phillip Fulmer, may have had a bit of a rocky relationship at the time with UT.

Add in the way his stock as a coach fell from an incredible high at the end of 2016 to the lowest of lows at the end of 2018, and the fact that it got a bit worse to start this year, and his slow rise is beginning to look impressive again. Tennessee football’s play recently has been solely a reflection of his coaching.

Receiver play has been solid all year long. Martin deserves credit for that. The passing game coming alive, though, is another major boost for his status as a coach. And now, if something were to happen, plenty of teams, including the Vols, would probably be perfectly happy with him becoming their offensive coordinator, especially if what happened at USC is more about Helton.