Gameday today: It’s all a super-revealing mind game, man

Football

It’s all a mind game, man. When defensive back Rashaan Gaulden had to sit out most of the spring due to injury, new position coach Charlton Warren told him that he could look at it one of two ways: Either he wasn’t getting any reps, or he was going to get all of them (mentally). The happy ending: Gaulden chose to get every rep.
 
Oh my goodness, the headline: “Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano’s Twitter account revealing.” What’s the big reveal? Is it naked Jim McElwain on a shark? Another mooning incident from a Volunteers quarterback, this time with pictures? Does it unearth psychopathic tendencies of a guy on our roster? What? It “reveals” that Guarantano is a team player? Oh, well that’s good. Boring, but good. Begrudging high-five for the headline, Mike.
 
So some folks are in an uproar about the Vols spending $40,000 on bowl and Battle of Bristol rings. Pffffftt. That’s like two parking passes, man. They can handle it.
 
One small squat for man, one giant squat for Marquez Bembry, who is “maybe 60 percent” recovered from a torn ACL suffered last August. Godspeed, young man.
 
“Pretty boring guy” Kendal Vickers is graduating despite an early stiff arm to the whole academics thing. Congratulations, from one boring guy staying home on Friday nights to another. Represent!
 
I don’t know what’s behind the paywall for this link promising an analysis of the Vols football scholarship distribution, but it sounds fun.
 
The 2017 Lott IMPACT Trophy folks have added Vols’ senior defensive back Todd Kelly Jr. to their watch list for the season. The criteria for the award isn’t limited to athletic performance, but also considers the player’s character, which is awesome. Kelly is one of 42 guys on the list, which is a lot of guys to watch, so I’m just going to watch Kelly and declare him the winner when the time rolls around.
 

Basketball

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee has recommended several rules changes, including implementation of a centralized replay system in basketball games. What’s a “centralized replay system,” you ask? Think replay for college football. You know, where they stop the game and get on the horn to some poorly-compensated virtual assistants in the Philippines to see what they think. Or maybe it’s the guys sitting in the SEC offices in Birmingham; I always get those two groups confused. Anyway, I guess it’s better than watching the stripey guys hunched over the monitor that belongs to the broadcast crew like they’re showing each other their latest Instagrams.
 

Baseball

The baseball Vols dug themselves a hole early and couldn’t climb out, falling to Kentucky 15-5 last night in Lexington. That moves Tennessee to 26-20 and a woeful 7-16 in the SEC.
 

Miscellaneous fun stuff

Remember Ron Slay? He’s graduating, and he’s going to wear a headband on his mortar board. Also, the Indianapolis Colts have waived VFL Curt Maggitt. Boo.

The Chico Factor

When Adrian Martinez committed to Tennessee on Friday afternoon, giving the Vols an elite quarterback prospect a year after they failed to sign a highly rated signal-caller in the 2017 class, the California star mentioned one name over and over and over in his interviews.

Mike Canales.

All of a sudden, one of the most puzzling assistant hires of Butch Jones’ tenure at Tennessee on the surface looked pretty good once the layers of Martinez’s recruiting story started peeling back. The words spoken by the Vols’ latest franchise quarterback to VolQuest’s Austin Price about the coach affectionately known as “Chico” made him sound like “The Man.”

[Yeah, that’s a ’70s TV reference, what of it?]

“I don’t think you have ever heard a bad word about coach Canales,” Martinez told Price. “I know I haven’t. He left such a great impression on myself and my family. He’s been nothing but positive and motivating throughout this whole thing. I’ve hit some adversity and he’s never changed. He was constantly positive and I felt like he was genuine and cared about me. I want to go to place that cares about their players.

“When I sat in the quarterback room without him in there, all the quarterbacks talked about how much he loves them as people and not just football. That’s huge.”

Say what you want about Jones, but the man has a ton of coaching contacts, and those have come in handy over his brief career with the Vols.

While Jones showed loyalty with his initial UT staff, he’s also proven he isn’t too sentimental to sever ties when things don’t go so rosy. Just ask former defensive coordinator John Jancek and offensive line coach Don Mahoney. Those deep connections to coaches all over the country also proved beneficial when it came time for Jones to replenish his staff with moves that the vast majority of folks have called upgrades.

One such offseason move — one of many assistant changes — that was met with nearly universal irritation was when Jones finally bit the bullet and decided to hire a quarterbacks coach [too late for the Joshua Dobbs era, I might add…] and chose — drumroll, please! — Mike Canales? If you read message boards around that time, you would have thought Canales’ mother made his middle name an expletive. 

Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.

The 55-year-old veteran assistant who was previously at Utah State but spent time at Arizona, South Florida and North Texas, where he also wound up as the Mean Green’s head coach, wasn’t a “splash” hire by any means. The thing is, it may wind up being a pretty darn good hire.

Jones has known Canales for a long time. As a matter of fact, back in 2015 when Tennessee played a sleepwalking homecoming against North Texas and won 24-0, the two head coaches chatted each other up like best friends and embraced afterward. Jones lauded Canales’ coaching ability leading up to the game and afterward. It was man-crushing at its finest.

That lip-service turned out to be anything but throwaway comments two years later when Jones snatched up Canales for the all-important job of tutoring quarterbacks. That position and the decision on who starts for the Vols under center in 2017 could wind up being the decision that determines Jones’ future at UT. Choose the wrong one between Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano, and the program may take a downward turn. If those guys are not ready, what will that mean for the Vols?

That shows the importance of this hire and also the faith Jones has in Canales.

The jury on Canales, of course, is still out. Upgrading from nothing isn’t hard, and that’s essentially what UT had the past few years, employing a graduate assistant [though a pretty good one in Nick Sheridan] who was responsible for working with quarterbacks. Mike DeBord was a pretty good coordinator, but he was NOT a molder of signal-callers.

Canales was universally lauded this spring for his coaching, his personality and the way his quarterbacks gravitated toward him. He’s handled the QB battle between Dormady and Guarantano well so far, and in the rain-shortened Orange & White Game, the duo combined to complete 14 of their 15 pass attempts. There didn’t appear to be any glaring mechanical issues, and Canales’ laid-back demeanor seems to fit well on Rocky Top.

Anybody having that much time to delve into every aspect of his quarterbacks’ game is going to help Tennessee’s offense. The decision not to have a quarterbacks coach during the Dobbs era is puzzling, to say the least. Failing to have a full-time, full-paid quarterbacks coach didn’t do the Vols any favors on the recruiting trail, either.

Though Jones’ pre-existing relationship with the Guarantano family helped the Vols land that elite prospect, Tennessee missed on some guys, who have referenced the Vols’ lack of a position coach as a factor.

Had Canales been entrenched during the entire recruitments of the 2018 class’s  “Big Three” — Trevor Lawrence, Emory Jones and Justin Fields, all of which had the Vols high on their lists at one point early on — they may have landed one.

As it turns out, a quarterbacks class of two high-upside prospects like Martinez and Mike Penix may wind up being the best thing for UT, anyway. The Vols need options, especially after Sheriron Jones just transferred and nobody knows how true freshman Will McBride will turn out. If you alienate Dormady or Guarantano in the race to be UT’s starter, all of a sudden, the Vols’ QB situation is dire. Martinez and Penix aren’t just two warm bodies, either. They’re potentially very good quarterbacks wanted by a lot of really good teams.

It was a necessity for the Vols to get two signal-callers in this class, and Canales accomplished that, playing a massive role in the decisions of both kids.

The duo of committed quarterbacks visited Knoxville on the same weekend for the Orange & White Game, and Penix committed while on the visit. Martinez may have initially been taken aback, but Canales was always up front about Tennessee wanting two quarterbacks, and Martinez was always hotly recruited once the Vols got on him.

The one-time California quarterback decommitted from the Bears after his UT visit. Offers from Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and others couldn’t sway Martinez, who wanted to be a Vol. He kept coming back to his visit and the relationship he’d struck up with Canales and others. When the Vols’ QBs coach traveled to California to seal the deal with Martinez a couple of weeks ago, nobody knows what was said. But it sold him.

Things like that make a quarterbacks coach invaluable. You want a guy who kids gravitate toward, who prospects want to play for, and Chico proved in the past three short weeks he can do that.

Now, if you glance at those message boards, you’d find nary a negative word about Canales. In this knee-jerk world of wanting megastar names in bold-font that make the prospects all over the country drool, recruiting still comes down to good, old-fashioned relationships.

It seems Canales has the ability to build those.

So, Canales can’t prove he was a fantastic hire without any game experience, of course, but he’s already proving to be an asset on the recruiting trail, standing out on a staff that is making Tennessee a hot name among top prospects once again.

Martinez’s commitment proves the Vols may not have gotten the biggest-name assistant out there when Jones hired Canales, but it’s one that, when coupled with the man himself, is resonating with prospects, anyway.

Tennessee Vols land commitment from another 4-star recruit in quarterback Adrian Martinez

The Tennessee Vols just landed another huge commitment for the class of 2018, this one from 4-star quarterback Adrian Martinez, who 247Sports ranks as the nation’s seventh-best dual-threat quarterback in the class. Martinez had been committed to Cal up until a couple of weeks ago, but he started leaning orange after he visited Rocky Top. The distance from his home in Fresno, California, was a hurdle to overcome, but the lure of playing in the SEC and the fact that every game is televised was enough to overcome that drawback.

Martinez is also not phased by another potential drawback, that being the pending competition for the Vols quarterback position heading into this fall between Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano. Martinez acknowledged that dual-threat redshirt freshman Guarantano winning the job would not be ideal for Martinez, but he also said he’s comfortable with his decision even if that happens.

As a junior last season, Martinez threw for 2,561 yards and 25 touchdowns and ran for 1,462 yards and another 14 touchdowns. He’s excited about the flexibility of Tennessee’s offense, that it can take advantage of his skill set and also prepare him for the NFL. He plans to shut down his recruiting process, graduate early, and enroll at Tennessee in January.

Martinez had offers from 25 schools, including Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia, Ole Miss, and Oregon, plus a bunch of other schools closer to home.

The quarterback joins athlete Alontae Taylor and defensive tackle Brant Lawless as the 4-star prospects in Tennessee’s class of 2018 so far. The class is headlined by 5-star offensive tackle Cade Mays from Knoxville Catholic. 

Martinez’s commitment brings Tennessee to No. 8 in 247Sports’ team recruiting rankings. They currently have one 5-star, three 4-stars, and six 4-stars in the class.

Gameday Today: Not a fan of Will Muschamp edition

Football

 
Tennessee freshman offensive tackle K’Rojhn Calbert is not a fan of the Muschamp culture at South Carolina. Sort of confirms most of what you thought a Muschamp locker room would be like, doesn’t it? Muschamp, though, does outrank Butch Jones in CBS’ list of the best coaches in college football. No. 52 doesn’t sound bad for Jones, but being ranked lower than Muschamp has to add a little salt to the sting. That’s what you get when you haven’t ever beaten the guy. Let’s fix that this fall, shall we?
 
And speaking of things to fix . . . Dave Hooker says that Vols defensive coordinator Bob Shoop needs to rebound this year. Yeah.
 
Things that don’t need fixing? Josh Dobbs, who is still winning hearts, participating in graduation activities and throwing his first pass for the Pittsburgh Steelers all within the same 24-hour span. 

Recruiting

The Twitter profile of 4-star defensive tackle Jaquaze Sorrells makes him look like a pretty solid commit to the Florida Gators, but that didn’t stop Tennessee from throwing their hat in the ring.
 

 

 Hoops

Little late to this party due to the magazine deadline, but . . . Vols guard Shembari Phillips is transferring. The Vols have also lost Kwe Parker, but they have signed JUCO All-American Chris Darrington and are trying to land James Daniel, a grad transfer from Howard. 

Baseball

 
Tennessee baseball . . . has a really good APR.
 
 
 
 

Post-Spring Projections: Running Backs

As we enter the football-less days of summer, we’ve got to fill our minds with visions of orange-and-white grandeur to pass the time, right?

Spring practice — like most all the springs before of the Butch Jones era — didn’t tell us much. But after what we saw and read, we can make some prognostications about what we may see, or at least expect to see, once fall practice starts. So, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I’m going to break down position-by-position what we saw, what we read and what I’ve heard about to project who’s gonna play where come opening weekend against Georgia Tech.

We’ll continue this series with our look at the Running Backs.

RUNNING BACKS

The John Kelly Show is going to debut with heaps of critical acclaim.

Way back when the 5’9″, 212-pound rising junior first arrived on campus, UT running backs coach Robert Gillespie turned heads with an otherwise-throwaway comment. When discussing his running backs room, which featured prominent offensive stalwarts Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, Gillespie said he believed he had three NFL running backs watching film. At the time, those who actually dug into the comment thought, “Woah, he’s including John Kelly, too, and he is a true freshman who’s never even played a snap.”

Flash forward to 2016, and our first extended look at Kelly following Hurd’s shocking mid-season decision to quit on his teammates. That Gillespie comment, in retrospect, looked prophetic. If anything, Hurd is the biggest long-shot of the trio to be in the pros, considering he transferred to Baylor to start over his career as a receiver, electing to sit out a year before changing positions.

With Hurd gone, Kelly wound up rushing for 630 yards and five touchdowns and led the team with a 6.4 average. He showed a second gear when he reached the linebacker level, but he was easily Tennessee’s best running back at attacking holes. Now, with Hurd at Baylor and Kamara in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, this is Kelly’s team.

GoVols247’s Grant Ramey and Wes Rucker believe he’s the one irreplaceable player on the offense, even more so than junior receiver Jauan Jennings.

This spring, he took another step forward with the intangibles, all the extra-curricular stuff that goes along with his immense talent. Associated Press writer Steve Megargee wrote about Kelly’s emerging leadership ability, and head coach Butch Jones noticed the change in Kelly this spring.

“He’s probably more vocal than he’s ever been,” Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. “He’s coaching the younger players. It gets back to details, accountability and toughness. John has done a really good job of accountability not only to himself, but his teammates around him. His voice is well respected.”

He didn’t even play in the Orange & White Game; the Vols didn’t need him to. He’s already proven he’s the offense’s horse, and he’s going to have to be the Man as UT breaks in a new quarterback.

Though several Big Ten schools (like Ohio State and Michigan State) wanted Kelly as a defensive back, it’s obvious he belongs in the offensive backfield. He’ll enter 2017 as UT’s feature back, and there’s really no question about his ability. It would be a shocker if he wasn’t a 1,000-yard rusher if he remains healthy. Considering this should be the strongest and deepest Tennessee offensive line of the Butch Jones era, Kelly should be licking his chops. He’s an all-around running back, and it’s possible he could be one of the league’s breakout stars. At the RB position, I predict he and Arkansas’ Devwah Whaley will be emerging studs.

It’s behind Kelly that the concerns start.

Tennessee has plenty of talent behind Kelly, but every ounce of it is unproven. It starts with rising sophomore Carlin Fils-aime, who looked capable in very limited action, scoring two touchdowns and gaining 58 yards in 14 total carries. Though he isn’t an electrifying player, he can get up and go and has a second gear. Is he big enough to endure the wear and tear of an SEC season? Fils-aime may not ever be an every-down back at Tennessee, but he has the ability to be a nice niche player who could excel getting 10 touches a game. There’s an outside chance he could emerge as a Kamara type, but at 5’11”, 175 pounds, he’d have to add 35 pounds to do so, and he just doesn’t have the same type of frame. CFA would be a good complimentary back, but if Kelly goes down, it remains to be seen if he could adequately fill the void.

The biggest hope comes to Knoxville this summer in the form of Nashville (Montgomery Bell Academy) true freshman Ty Chandler, a kid pretty much everybody in the Southeast wanted. He wound up choosing the home-state Vols over Georgia, Clemson, Southern Cal and Ole Miss, where his father played. The nation’s fifth-rated running back and No. 68 overall player according to the 247Sports Composite ratings is a dynamic athlete who represented a major win instate in a year where the Vols lost a lot of good players to other teams.

He’s 5’11”, 187 pounds and can hold more than 200 pounds easily. He looks good catching the ball out of the backfield, shows good body lean, slashing ability and can kick it up a notch. Chandler looks like he could be one of the biggest recruiting victories of the Butch Jones era, and it would not be a surprise to see him leapfrog CFA into the No. 2 running back role in 2017.

After those three, the Vols are adding two more freshmen runners in Timothy Jordan and Trey Coleman. One of those guys was a late addition who saw his stock soar while the other was a camp find whose recruitment never really took off.

Coleman was one of the guys who visited Knoxville for Orange Carpet Day and wound up pledging to the Vols. Fans at the time were like, “Who’s this guy?” but UT desperately wanted a power back in this year’s class considering, at the time, they thought Hurd would leave for the NFL after his junior season. The 5’11”, 203-pound running back from West Monroe, Louisiana, had an offer from Arkansas, but he pledged to UT and both sides remained firm in that commitment. Though Coleman may not wind up an every-down back, if he stays on offense, he could be a great short-yardage find. He’ll be an intriguing storyline to watch.

If you’re looking for an under-the-radar find in UT’s 2017 recruiting class, receiver Josh Palmer would be my No. 1, but running a close second is Jordan, a running back from Bartow, Florida, whose recruitment didn’t take off until very late in the process. Jordan was committed to Western Kentucky a long time after surging late in football following a promising basketball career. GoVols247’s Ryan Callahan noted Jordan as the most underrated player in UT’s class. The 5’11”, 189-pound running back is the perfect runner for this system, and he’ll probably get carries immediately in 2017.

So, we may be concerned about running back depth. But the guy who is charged with making those guys great is not. And if you remember back to Gillespie’s first year as the RB coach with Raijon Neal as the No. 1 back, he doesn’t sugarcoat things much. Gillespie likes his guys, and he told Rucker that positional depth isn’t a concern.

“You have to recreate yourself. That’s what we do here. We go out and recruit,” Gillespie said after Thursday’s spring camp practice inside Anderson Training Center. “I think Ty Chandler is a hell of a football player. He’s gonna come in here and be ready to play. Trey Coleman, too. This is my first time being able to say those guys’ names. I think Ty Chandler, Trey Coleman and Timothy Jordan, those guys are gonna come in and be ready to play, and we need ‘em. We talk football almost every day. The same install in this practice which these guys just did, we’re gonna watch it with those [incoming] guys tonight. Technology is something special, with Skype and all that stuff.

“Those guys will know the offense and come in and be ready to play. It’s recreating yourself. This is the SEC.”

It’s gonna be fun to watch these guys develop.

Prediction: John Kelly starter, Ty Chandler 2nd string, Carlin Fils-aime 3rd string, Timothy Jordan 4th string, Trey Coleman 5th string

Next: Wide Receivers

Four reasons to like the Tennessee Volunteers in 2017

One of my favorite things about doing the magazine every year is that I generally come away from the process with a list of things that I’m looking forward to when the season finally arrives. I wasn’t sure whether that would happen this year because we were coming off a mixed-bag season that did not end as well as we’d hoped and are also heading into a season for which expectations are lower than last year.

But wonder of wonders, there are reasons to believe Team 121. Here are my Top 4.

Gameday on Rocky Top 2017
Gameday on Rocky Top 2017

Talent

I know what you’re thinking, because it’s the same thing I was thinking when we started this year’s edition of the magazine. We just lost six guys to the NFL Draft and a couple more to free agency. And the incoming recruiting class wasn’t quite on the same level as Jones’ early classes. We have to be less talented this year than last.

But here’s the thing. To look only at the outgoing class of NFL prospects and the incoming class of high schoolers is to ignore the classes in the middle. Two of those classes ranked fourth and seventh in the nation at the time, and those guys are upperclassmen. The guys taking the field this year as starters are as talented as anyone.

We’re going to miss Derek Barnett. But we’re going to enjoy Jonathan Kongbo. We’ll miss Cam Sutton, but enjoy Shaq Wiggins. We’ll miss Alvin Kamara, but love John Kelly.

I could do this all day. The guys behind the guys who left are good. Really good.

Offensive line

Thanks to a certain former coach who shall remain nameless, the offensive line at Tennessee has been digging out of a hole for several years. The line was totally neglected for an entire recruiting season, and it created a huge void that hurt the team for a couple of years.

But that’s over now. While putting together the magazine, I compiled a list of games and starts for every returning offensive lineman in the SEC and used that information to rank each team by total number of games and starts currently on the roster. Tennessee’s line for 2017 is second in the SEC in games and starts. Sure, that doesn’t measure the actual level of talent of the guys are who are playing and starting, but it is a measure of experience, and our guys have it. More than they’ve had in years.

But they are, in fact, also talented as well, and the unit is deep to boot. The only real question about who might start along the offensive line this fall is at the tackle positions, and the reason for that is that it’s a competition between a guy with a ton of experience (Brett Kendrick) and two 5-star guys (Drew Richmond and Trey Smith). At least one extremely qualified lineman isn’t going to make the starting lineup this fall, and he’ll have to wait his turn.

There’s experience, talent, and depth along the line this year, and if the offensive line is as underappreciated and undervalued by fans and pundits as I suspect, it could make a world of difference this fall, especially for an offense breaking in a new quarterback.

Coaching tweaks

Here are a few of our Not Favorite Things from last season: Injuries. Conditioning late in the season (maybe). Defensive backs who couldn’t defend deep passes. A defense that didn’t appear in synch.

Jones seems to have addressed each of these areas, and although some of the new coaching hires may have seemed a bit underwhelming at first, the guys all seem solid upon further investigation.

 

To mitigate the injury problem and to improve both strength and conditioning, Jones hired Rock Gullickson, who’s getting rave reviews already. Even just two or three fewer key injuries would make a huge difference.

In hindsight, it doesn’t make much sense to spend a bunch of money on shiny new defensive coordinator Bob Shoop only to make him fit with your guys. If the defense wasn’t all pulling in the same direction last year, the shakeup in the defensive staff should help. I was surprised to find that the pass defense stats were actually decent last season (notice I said “decent,” not “up to Tennessee’s standards”). What made the pass defense seem so bad was that it was actually terrible at defending the deep ball. The secondary really just needs to fix that one thing without breaking something else, and overall pass defense will be much improved. New defensive backs coach Charlton Warren seems like the right guy for the job. Look up North Carolina’s pass defense last season, and you’ll be convinced. That one small change could produce some very good results.

The bye week

Most all of the good that the team did in September last year came undone in October.

The 2016 season opened with seven consecutive games. The first five were wins, and the sixth was an overtime loss to a Top 10 team on the road despite multiple injuries. The seventh was Alabama dominating a decimated team.

This year begins much the same way, with all-important games against SEC East rivals Florida and Georgia, a neutral-site game against a dangerous team, and a breather against a bad FBS opponent (Ohio last year; UMass this year). The biggest difference in the first five games is that FCS team Indiana State takes the spot occupied by Appalachian State last year.

But things are much different starting Week Six this fall. Instead of two more consecutive weeks against Top 10 teams, followed by an off week and South Carolina, this year starts with what will likely be a welcome bye week. Then comes South Carolina a week before the Alabama game, and the month concludes with Kentucky.

So last year was two more reps against two of your toughest opponents after an already-long stretch, and then a rest. But this year is a rest, then a regular game, and then your toughest test, followed by a relatively easy game.

October always features a tough game against Alabama, but it’s capacity to completely derail Tennessee’s season this year is much less this year than last.

And then November actually provides something new for the Vols this season as well. Usually the month consists of nothing but teams the Vols should beat. There’s generally no real upside in November, only downside.

But this year, LSU comes to town the second-to-last game of the season, and they are looking like they could be a Top 10 team. If so, then that game provides a late opportunity for Tennessee to prove something. If things have not gone well, they get an additional opportunity to redeem themselves, and if things have gone well, they get a chance to prove that they deserve their ranking.

 

Post-Spring Projections: Quarterbacks

As we enter what I call the dark days of summer because we’re just weeks removed from spring practice but months away from actual football starting, we’ve got to fill our minds with visions of orange-and-white grandeur to pass the time, right?

That’s why you see esteemed Internet sites like this fill pages with projections, because, really, that’s why you’re here. You want to read about Tennessee athletics, and considering it’s almost as if the Volunteers don’t have a baseball team [or one worth watching, anyway] we’ve got to fill the space with football hopes and dreams.

Spring practice — like most all the springs before of the Butch Jones era — didn’t tell us much. But after what we saw and read, we can make some prognostications about what we may see, or at least expect to see, once fall practice starts. So, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I’m going to break down position-by-position what we saw, what we read and what I’ve heard about to project who’s gonna play where come opening weekend against Georgia Tech.

We’ll start this series at the most important position on the team: Quarterback.

QUARTERBACKS

I saw that half of football. Now, I’m a believer.

There are a lot of folks who want to go out on a limb and make crazy assumptions and logic leaps about the Tennessee quarterback battle following Quinten Dormady’s brilliant 10-of-10 spring game performance where he threw for 120 yards and culminated two scoring drives with touchdown tosses.

That doesn’t diminish anything Jarrett Guarantano did this spring; not in the least. By all accounts, the redshirt freshman who entered the spring as the fan favorite to win the job [even though there’s no indication he’s who the coaches favored] did nothing but help his cause this spring. He may have experienced moments and even days of inconsistency, but his skill set is immense. Guarantano is not as shifty or as brilliant in the open field as Joshua Dobbs, but he arguably has better straight-line speed. Once he realizes when to take off and when to stay put in the pocket, he’s going to be fun to watch.

Guarantano also has next-level arm strength. He probably has the best arm of any Tennessee quarterback since Erik Ainge, and that’s not an exaggeration. The ball literally jumps out of his hand, and though he hasn’t completely harnessed it yet, the “arm talent,” as analysts like to call it, sets him apart from a lot of other players.

The problem with Guarantano is experience. He simply doesn’t have any of it, and when you factor in he missed half of his senior season of high school with an injury, he’s just raw. He’s an elite talent, but he’s not ready to be the starting quarterback yet.

This spring was more about what Dormady showed me than what Guarantano didn’t.

For the 2017 season, the Vols need to start out at least with somebody who has taken some live bullets. Thanks to Dobbs’ incredible durability over the course of the past two seasons, Dormady hasn’t played any meaningful snaps, but he has at least gotten in games. In those games, other than flashing his own great arm strength, he hasn’t done a lot to muster immense excitement. Then again, when you’re used to seeing Dobbs’ magnificence when plays break down, Dormady looked almost statuesque [side note: He’s not]. In actuality, the kid is athletic, he’s got a great arm and he’s been in the film room for two years. That cannot be overstated. This was already his third spring practice at UT, and that gives him an advantage.

When Dormady took the reins in the spring game, he showed that he has the ability to take it up a notch. Now, of course, spring games aren’t real games, and two-hand touch isn’t the best environment for a quarterback to showcase his talent. That’s why nobody is anointing new Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham as the first-team All-SEC quarterback. But because of his showing in the A-Day game coupled with how good he looked in limited action while he was at Baylor, there’s justifiable excitement. The same goes for Dormady. It’s the same palpable excitement we all felt when Dobbs was dynamic throwing the ball to Josh Malone three springs ago. We thought, “This kid looks like he can be a great player.” That turned out to be true.

As I’ve already mentioned in articles before, the best thing about the Orange & White Game performance of the 6’4″, 216-pound junior from Boerne, Texas, was not his perfection. It wasn’t his statistics. It was his ball placement on his passes. If he puts the ball in position for his receivers to make plays, that’s the best UT can hope for. The offense won’t look the same without Dobbs’ dual-threat ability, but Dormady has the opportunity to upgrade UT’s passing efficiency considerably. That’s not taking anything away from Dobbs’ dynamite senior season; but Dormady’s differences from Dobbs could actually be assets as UT flips to the Larry Scott era.

Dormady’s leadership could be an asset. With the offensive line expected to be a team strength in 2017 and with the depth new assistant Walt Wells enjoys at the position following the [much needed] ouster of Don Mahoney, the Vols don’t need a quarterback who can run for his life. He shouldn’t have to. John Kelly has proven he can be a very good SEC running back, and though there are depth questions behind him, UT has the talent to outfit the running back position nicely. Tennessee is unproven at the receiver position behind junior Jauan Jennings. So, they need a strong-armed, accurate passer to make them look good.

I’m not saying Dormady is that guy, but he has the ability to be that guy. We saw that flash in the spring game even though it was a small sample set.

So, when it comes to quarterback depth, I’m going to say Dormady is your starter to open the season. If you have to adjust accordingly, that’s OK. It’s also just fine if Guarantano gets in the game in certain situations and if the Vols can balance a two-quarterback system of sorts based on different schemes and defensive looks. But Dormady looked all spring like a starting quarterback, and so he gets the nod, because of experience but also because when the time came to showcase his skills, he took advantage of it. No matter what Jones says publicly, that had to give him the upper-hand.

With Sheriron Jones transferring, that elevates true freshman Will McBride to third-string quarterback behind Guarantano. If the Vols add Adrian Martinez to go along with Michael Penix in the 2018 recruiting class, UT’s quarterback situation could be a strength for a long time to come, even with the Vols striking out on Emory Jones, Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.

Prediction: Quentin Dormady starter. Jarrett Guarantano 2nd string. Will McBride 3rd string.

Next: Running Backs

Tennessee Recruiting: Vols Getting Lawless in Knoxville

Tennessee has the opportunity to meet a major need in the 2018 recruiting class without leaving state borders, and the first step toward achieving that massive portion of this year’s haul happened Monday night.

Brant Lawless, a 4-star defensive tackle out of Nashville Christian School, pledged to Tennessee over offers from Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Oklahoma and others. Looking for an elite player with an elite offer sheet? Lawless provides that, giving the Vols one of their two biggest pledges of the ’18 class so far.

https://twitter.com/brant_lawless/status/859185049140436993

As the Vols continue building this class, they also remain in good shape with 4-star defensive tackle D’Andre Litaker of Murfreesboro and 4-star strong-side defensive end Greg Emerson of Jackson. The Vols are also trying hard to flip Jordan Davis of Memphis, who is committed to Alabama but listening to UT, according to VolQuest.com’s Brent Hubbs.

All three of those guys remain major targets for the Vols, but a big-time domino fell Monday with Lawless’ pledge. The 6’3″, 285-pound interior lineman is rated as the country’s No. 25 defensive tackle according to the 247Sports Composite, and that elevates to No. 18 at his position in 247Sports. He’s also one of the nation’s top 300 players overall, and many of the country’s top programs would love to have him as one of the anchors of the class.

Lawless is explosive from the center of the line, and he has the ability to be a complete tackle, stopping the run and getting after the passer from the inside. He was a teammate of UT sophomore linebacker Daniel Bituli, and his first look at Tennessee came with Bituli on a trip. Since then, the Vols have pursued Lawless, making him a priority. They’ve been considered a favorite for a while, and Lawless ended the process early.

Now, it’s time for the peer recruiting to ramp up. Lawless, Litaker and Emerson are all close, and they group chat with each other. They’ve developed a bond with one another, and they’ve discussed playing together in college. Perhaps most importantly, all have developed relationships with UT defensive line coach Brady Hoke and coordinator Bob Shoop. The Hoke hire may wind up being the ideal hire at the perfect time for the Vols. Many of the top targets on the defensive front seem enamored with him. Lawless talked about the assistant’s passion, their relationship and his spirituality.

Now, Lawless is looking toward getting his buddies in orange, according to Scout.com’s Danny Parker.

After struggling to land many of its top targets from inside state boundaries in the 2017 class, Tennessee is doing a lot to batten down the hatches this year and in the future. Already in the ’19 class, UT has commitments from four in-state targets. This year, the Vols can outfit much of their haul with Volunteer State players, and guys like Litaker, Emerson, Smith, Cam Jones and Cam Johnson could go a long way toward doing that.

Already, UT has commitments from offensive linemen Cade Mays and Ollie Lane, receiver Alontae Taylor and cornerback Shatar McClay from Tennessee in this year’s class. Quarterback Michael Penix, running back Jashaun Corbin, receiver Jatavious Harris and Mississippi cornerback Jaylon Reed round out a class that has surged to 13th nationally on 247Sports and second in the SEC.

Lawless loved the family atmosphere in Knoxville. “The main factor, it was just something about it just gave me that good feeling all the coaches made you feel at home,” he told 247Sports’ Barton Simmons.

Tennessee’s renewed focus instate has been a group effort. New assistants Walt Wells and Hoke are helping, and Tommy Thigpen had a hand in Lawless’ recruitment, too. With all the talent in the state, UT can line its class with stud prospects from close by if it continues to excel at home. Getting Lawless is a huge domino, and the peer recruiting could really get this year rolling.

The Vols now need to continue the momentum into the summer months. With Litaker possibly expected to do something soon, the good news may continue to flow. Lawless was a massive piece of the puzzle.

Tennessee’s 2017 NFL Draft Presence a Return to Normalcy

In every season but two between 1939 and 2014, the Tennessee Volunteers had at least one football player taken in the NFL Draft.

The Vols dubiously doubled that number in the past two years, as zero players were taken by NFL teams. Again, we should take this opportunity to thank Derek Dooley for the 47,457th time.

So, when six Vols were plucked in the 2017 NFL Draft that just ended this afternoon, it felt like everything was right with the world. Led by living legend Derek Barnett—who was taken 14th overall by the Philadelphia Eagles—and highlighted by a fourth round that saw three Vols taken Saturday, it was a glorious showing for head coach Butch Jones and a testament to the turnaround in Knoxville.

You may (rightfully) be bristling at how things turned out on the field during a frustrating 9-4 2016 season, but there’s no question Jones’ recruiting is putting Tennessee in position to be successful once again.

Jones told GoVols247’s Wes Rucker in part on Saturday afternoon:

I know today is all about their players and their families, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t take a moment and just kind of reflect and talk about this being a great weekend for Tennessee football. It’s a great weekend for all of our players. They’ve done such a great job of not only representing their personal brands, but also the great brand of Tennessee. Obviously we’re very proud and excited for them—and not only them, but their families, as well.

There are plenty of reasons for Tennessee to be concerned after moving on from such a vaunted group of guys, but given that this is really Jones’ first class of NFL recruits, it’s also a reason to be excited about the future. Obviously, Jones and his staff is doing a good job evaluating players, and though the past couple of classes haven’t been as highly rated as the first two, there are plenty of prospects brewing in Knoxville.

Guys such as receiver Jauan Jennings, running back John Kelly, linebacker Darrin Kirkland Jr. and defensive end Jonathan Kongbo look like quality NFL prospects. The quarterback duo of Jarrett Guarantano and Quinten Dormady could evolve, too, and though the Vols don’t look to have a class as highly regarded as this year’s on the horizon any time soon, they have a smattering of talented players who could turn into elite pro players.

The most worrisome thing for Tennessee is next year doesn’t look like a big one on the prospects horizon. FOXSports.com’s way-too-early look at a 2018 mock draft features no Vols [unless you count Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson]… The Vols need players to develop and emerge who can keep this momentum going and keep having this pro angle selling point for prospects.

If Tennessee can just tread water in what should be a transition year in 2017—think eight or nine wins—the ’18 and ’19 classes are already off to exceptional starts, and this newly refurbished coaching staff looks like it can do some damage on the trail.

Plus, a showing like the past three days can play extremely well in living rooms. This is how Tennessee football is supposed to represent on draft day. And this isn’t just frilly window dressing, either. These are ideal situations for all players who were taken.

  • When you’re taken in the first round, 14th overall, you aren’t expected to ride the bench. Barnett won’t, and he is primed to have a great career in a city that fits his personality. We all remember the Nashville native abusing tackles, getting in extra pushes and slings on quarterbacks after the whistle and playing with a chip on his shoulder. For a gritty, abrasive fan base in Philly, Eagles fans will absolutely adore him. Barnett is big, mean and [most importantly] a really, really good football player. He’s an ideal fit in the NFC East and especially in the blue-collar city of Philadelphia.
  • Though the New Orleans Saints signed Adrian Peterson to go along with All-Pro running back Mark Ingram, who is just now coming into his own in the Big Easy, Alvin Kamara is the future at the position. It isn’t an ideal depth chart situation, but from a situational standpoint, there are fewer great fits than Kamara’s game and head coach Sean Payton’s scheme. This is, after all, the coach who helped turn Darren Sproles into a star, and Kamara’s game fits here. He’ll catch passes out of the backfield, probably play some special teams and gradually ease into some touches for the Saints. Eventually, it’ll be his backfield.
  • When it comes to NFL franchises, few [if any] are better-run than the Pittsburgh Steelers, and so for Cameron Sutton to land there is terrific. He could win that starting nickelback role as a rookie, and that’s a really good spot for the former UT shutdown cornerback. He may not have the speed to play boundary corner in the NFL, but going to a Steelers franchise that always puts a quality product on the field will be a great deal for Sutton. He will play a lot as a first-year player and could wind up a star in the Steel City.
  • The Detroit Lions desperately needed linebackers entering the draft and went a long way toward addressing those needs with the second-round pick of Florida’s Jarrad Davis then coming right back with Jalen Reeves-Maybin in the fourth round. JRM dealt with significant injuries in Knoxville, as we all know, but he was wildly productive when he was healthy. He isn’t the same kind of linebacker as Davis, but the duo are complimentary of each other. He’ll contribute right away, and his ability to help on special teams will be a big deal on the next level, too. JRM has an ideal opportunity to step right into the rotation as a rookie.
  • Josh Malone was taken in the fourth round by the Cincinnati Bengals, and he will provide some much-needed speed and playmaking ability to a team needing difference-makers on offense. Cincy plucked Washington speedster John Ross in the first round and added controversial Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, whose pick prompted a Cincy television station to call for a Bengals boycott. Those two picks proved the Bengals need speed on that side of the ball, and so does the Malone pick. Along with A.J. Green and Brandon LaFell, Ross and Malone should slide in and get immediate reps. There’s, again, opportunity to play.
  • The most ideal situation for perhaps any Vol not named Barnett in the draft came when quarterback Joshua Dobbs was taken by the Steelers with the 135th overall selection, the same spot where the Cowboys took Dak Prescott last year, a player to which Dobbs has been often compared. With Ben Roethlisberger getting up in age and with backup signal-caller Landry Jones’ inefficiencies, Dobbs has a golden opportunity to step right in and slide into the No. 2 quarterback role. If that happens, he’ll almost certainly get some game reps, because Big Ben gets hurt every year due to his reckless play. If Dobbs progresses the way he could, that could be his job in two or three years, and the Steelers are always set up to win big right now. It’s just that type of franchise. Also, having a familiar face like Sutton around won’t hurt, and Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin has been around UT’s program a few times in the past couple of years.

So, not only was this weekend big for the Vols, it has the opportunity to keep paying dividends over the next few years as Jones begins his next round of pitches to prospects saying, “You could be the next Dobbs” or “We plan to use you like Alvin Kamara.” He’s already made that pitch this year to running back commitment Jashaun Corbin, and it will only continue.

Jones is right. The past few days were great to be a Tennessee Vol, and it will breed new Vols in the future. Now, if UT can only break through with some more prominent steps on the football field in the wake of Jones’ first strong NFL Draft class, the program can keep this momentum going.

That may be a big “if,” but this first group certainly did their part on the field, and they were rewarded handsomely in the draft.

Vols quarterback Joshua Dobbs selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of 2017 NFL Draft (with highlights)

VFL and NCAA poster boy for brainy student-athletes everywhere Joshua Dobbs was just selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the draft’s 135th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. Nice Guys everywhere, rejoice. We don’t always finish last.

Dobbs’ played in 37 games over the course of his Tennessee career. He was pressed into action his first two seasons after injuries to the starters, but his early experience paid off in the form of several incredibly productive seasons as a Volunteers. His 3,781 yards of total offense last season ranks second in Tennessee history. Who’s first? Why, Peyton Manning, of course, although he only beat Dobbs by a mere eight yards. Makes you wonder whether Manning would have given him that advice if he had displaced him in the record books.

For his career, Dobbs had 7,138 passing yards (fifth in Tennessee history) and 2,160 rushing yards (first in Tennessee history for a quarterback). His 9,360 yards of total offense is third in Tennessee history behind Manning and Casey Clausen.

It could not make us any happier to see Dobbs get drafted into the NFL. A super-smart, incredibly good guy (one example: Josh Dobbs and A.J., Ice-Cream Men) who was doubted for much of his career and underappreciated for most of the rest of it, he suddenly started getting the attention he deserved by NFL analysts just a couple of months ago. Look, Jon Gruden isn’t the only one who loves the guy. (And Gruden is all about comparing Dobbs to Dak Prescott, and you know what he did in the NFL last year.) He may not have gone as high as the recent hype suggested he might, but that just means that he’s going to have to prove everyone wrong again.

See also this page of stories tagged Josh Dobbs.

This highlight video takes a while to get going, but hang in there, because once it starts the actual highlights, it’s good.