Tennessee football: Five takeaways from Vols’ 42-17 win at Vanderbilt

2. J.T. Shrout and Harrison Bailey both showed promise.

It’s clear that Tennessee football is going to have a quarterback competition going into next year. Last week, against the Florida Gators, J.T. Shrout out-performed Harrison Bailey statistically, but Shrout took advantage of the fact that he was playing in garbage time. This week, however, the reverse ended up happening.

Bailey appeared to play way more efficient than Shrout, but Shrout played a much higher portion of his time in important minutes when the game was in hand. Shrout completed 6-of-13 passes for 90 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception. On the other hand, Bailey was 14-of-18 for 207 yards and another 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.

What’s clear is that both of these guys have shown promise, and Shrout will have three years of eligibility after this season, while Bailey will have four. Brian Maurer appears to be the odd man out at this point.

We should also tout the play of Velus Jones Jr., who had 7 catches for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns, and Jalin Hyatt had 5 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. But what’s clear is that Shrout and Bailey are showing all the promise right now at quarterback.