Tennessee football stock report after Week 6 of 2020

Stocks to buy

Jarrett Guarantano

Through two and a half games, Jarrett Guarantano didn’t have any turnovers. Then, in the second half against the Georgia Bulldogs, he had three fumbles, losing two of them, and an interception. All of that turned fans against him overnight once again, which is a continuous story. As a fifth-year senior, there are no excuses for Guarantano’s mistakes.

However, very few people have ever been under as much duress in a game as Guarantano was in that half. The best he could have done in all of those situations was take a sack. The guy still had two touchdowns and over 200 yards passing, so he’s much better than he looked in that half. He’ll likely regroup as the season progresses, and very few teams are as elite as the Dawgs.

Play-calling

For the first time all year, Tennessee football’s coordinators had some issues calling the game Saturday. Jim Chaney abandoned the run far too early, and Derrick Ansley did not blitz Stetson Bennett enough on obvious passing downs when the eye test showed that all of Bennett’s accuracy goes out the window when he’s under pressure. Both messed up.

However, Chaney was coaching the flow of the game, and there were personnel issues that made his play-calling look worse. Ansley dialed back the blitzes because of the targeting penalty that knocked Deandre Johnson, the Vols’ best pass-rusher, out of the game. As a result, they should both be much better this week, particularly Ansley with Johnson back.