GoVols247’s Wes Rucker (from Fort Rucker Studio) and Patrick Brown (from his house at an undisclosed location across town) convened via the magic of Al Gore’s Internets to discuss an offseason checklist of sorts for Tennessee’s quarterbacks and wide receivers.
It wasn’t the spring anyone in the college football world envisioned, and some of Tennessee’s January enrollees — including touted quarterback signee Harrison Bailey and fellow quarterback (at least for now) Jimmy Holiday — had just three practices with their new teammates. In that sense, it’s tough to suggest anything has changed since the end of last season, when Jarrett Guarantano was the team’s primary player at the position. Assuming football gets going again at some point in the future, though, the opinion of Coach Jeremy Pruitt is that all five of Tennessee’s scholarship quarterbacks and Maryland transfer Kasim Hill (who’s a walk-on in Knoxville) have a chance to earn the first-team spot. Pruitt was clear about that early in spring camp, and he’s never been the type to treat quarterbacks much differently from those at any other position. You have to earn the job and keep the job, or someone else will be on the field.
Will Guarantano remain the man to beat there? What will it take for him to fully re-earn his spot atop the depth chart? Which players have a legitimate chance to take that job from him, and what do they need to do in order to make that happen? All things quarterback — including Brian Maurer and J.T. Shrout — are discussed in the first segment.
Receivers take the stage in the second segment, and there’s no shortage of things to discuss there, either. Tennessee has to replace a pair of special wideouts in Jauan Jennings and Marquez Callaway, and Tyler Byrd was a big figure in the locker room, as well, but the Vols do have a long list of intriguing options there.
Can Josh Palmer translate his undeniable talent into a starring role as a legitimate No. 1 target? Will Brandon Johnson’s decision to redshirt last season and return as a fifth-year senior pay dividends for him and the Vols? Will Georgia transfer Deangelo Gibbs get and stay focused and take advantage of the same talents he largely squandered during his time in Athens? Will speedy transfer Velus Jones Jr. from Southern Cal make an impact? Will promising underclassmen Ramel Keyton and Cedric Tillman make big strides as sophomores? What about the trio of gifted pass-catching targets who arrive this summer? How much of an impact can they make as true freshmen.
Admittedly, there are more questions than answers for the Vols at wide receiver right now, but they do have options, and some of them are exciting options. There’s a ton to discuss about that position, as well, and that discussion occurs in the second segment of this episode.
The next GoVols247 Podcast episode will be released Thursday, unless major breaking news occurs before that point.
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