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Tennessee football, JT Daniels never made sense for each other

By Caleb Calhoun

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 31: JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans prepares to pass during the game against the Fresno State Bulldogs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 31, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 31: JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans prepares to pass during the game against the Fresno State Bulldogs at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 31, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Bulldogs landed the USC Trojans transfer quarterback over the Tennessee football Volunteers.

Back in April, there was lots of excitement over Tennessee football being in play for USC Trojans transfer quarterback JT Daniels. Given the fact that Daniels played under Tee Martin, there was a connection that could give the Vols an advantage.

However, on Thursday, Daniels announced on Twitter he is transferring to the Georgia Bulldogs, and that’s okay for Rocky Top. This was never going to work out because of how loaded the Vols are at quarterback.

Right now, behind redshirt senior Jarrett Guarantano, Tennessee football has Maryland Terrapins transfer Kasim Hill, rising sophomores Brian Maurer and JT Shrout, and five-star phenom Harrison Bailey at quarterback. Dual-threat KaTron Evans just committed for 2021, and athlete Jimmy Holiday, who could also be a dual-threat quarterback, joined the 2020 class.

All of those guys could be in the running to start after Guarantano leaves. Chaney and Jeremy Pruitt have shown numerous times that they are willing to have open competition for starting jobs, and that’s not likely to change after 2019.

As a result, it made sense for Daniels to go somewhere else. That he went to Georgia may make it worse, but the Dawgs have had no trouble finding elite quarterbacks under Kirby Smart. Does anybody think they would have failed to find another one if they didn’t land Daniels?

Finally, Daniels choosing the Vols could actually hurt their recruiting efforts for the future as well. UT is making a heavy push for in-state four-star quarterback Ty Simpson, a pro-style prospect for 2022. Would Simpson really entertain Pruitt and co., though, if Daniels, Bailey and Evans were all going to be on the roster when he arrived? That would make no sense.

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Taking that into account Tennessee football could have Daniels for two years or Simpson for four years, and the only year they wouldn’t have either is 2021 since Daniels is now highly unlikely to be eligible to play in 2020 anyway. Simply put, Daniels not choosing the Vols is not a huge loss.

It’s also true that we don’t know yet just how good Daniels will be the next time he plays. He showed promise in 2018 before his season-ending injury in 2019. However, by the time he is eligible to play, he will likely not have seen any action for nearly two full seasons.

Is it really worth the risk for Pruitt and Chaney at that point if that will cause them to lose out on an elite prospect who is even younger just one year later? It probably isn’t considering what the Vols already have.

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On top of that, it wasn’t worth it for Daniels to transfer to Tennessee football given just how loaded UT is at quarterback. As a result, this is a match that made no sense for either side, and Daniels going to Georgia doesn’t change much for the Vols given the fact that the Dawgs have no trouble finding elite quarterbacks anyway. So this move is much ado about nothing.

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