Tennessee football: Five areas Vols regressed from 2018 to 2019

4. Starting quarterback play

Let’s be clear about what we mean. Jarrett Guarantano was great for Tennessee football, and although he regressed at the beginning of the year, he had a strong surge at the end. However, what’s lost on that is all of his great performances outside of one major exception occurred when he came off the bench.

That one exception, to be fair, is the Missouri Tigers, when he threw for over 400 yards. Still, the previous year, Guarantano had multiple great games in which he was the starter, even if he struggled overall. So there was clear regression specifically when he started.

Everybody blamed Guarantano for abysmal play through UT’s 1-3 start. He then lost his starting job to Brian Maurer, who would actually end up starting four games on the season. Maurer finished the year with two touchdowns and five interceptions.

JT Shrout was better, with one touchdown and no interceptions and starting two games. But Shrout’s only touchdown came in a game in which he did start but came off the bench to throw it. So nobody was good outside of Guarantano in that one game before they came off the bench this year, which was extremely odd.

Even in the Gator Bowl comeback, Guarantano had no touchdown passes, and he didn’t start moving UT down the field until he was benched for a series. It’s hard to figure out what was going on, but starting quarterback play was awful all season.

Now, the epic performances against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Kentucky Wildcats are commendable. But Guarantano did both off the bench. Guys had to come off the bench all year to secure wins, and that’s something Jim Chaney and co. need to figure out this offseason.