What wound up being a surprise visit from a “mystery” quarterback last weekend appears as though it will manifest itself as a Tennessee quarterback commitment.
JT Shrout, a 6’3″, 190-pound quarterback from William S. Hart High School in Newhall, California, and a one-time California Bears commitment was going to choose between UT and Cal tomorrow.
On Tuesday night, he officially decommitted from coach Justin Wilcox’s Bears, according to his official Twitter account. This seems to be good news for Tennessee.
After much thought and prayer I have decided to de-commit from from Cal. I would like to thank Coach Wilcox and his staff for giving me this opportunity, but I feel this is the best thing for me to do. I will still be signing tomorrow during the early signing period. Thank you.
— JT Shrout (@JT_Shrout16) December 20, 2017
Though Shrout threw for 3,064 yards as a senior, he tossed an eye-popping 25 interceptions to go along with 27 touchdown passes. He’s still the No. 26 pro-style quarterback in the nation, according to 247Sports.
After an injury forced him to miss much of his high school career, this season was his first to start. Yes, he threw far too many interceptions, but folks everywhere are enamored with his upside, too.
Back in July, Yahoo.com’s Pete Thamel — he of the Tennessee bashing during the Greg Schiano debacle — wrote about the unheralded prospect:
But it’s safe to project Shrout, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound rising senior, as one of the biggest steals of the 2018 recruiting class. That was the consensus of coaches at the QB Collective, including one NFL coordinator who told Yahoo Sports that Shrout was by far the most polished prospect there. Shrout wowed all the coaches with his technical precision, polished footwork and smooth throwing motion. “I think of all the quarterbacks who were here, if I were an NFL general manager or quarterback coach, [he’d be] the guy who could step in on day one and fundamentally work within an NFL system,” said Sage Rosenfels, a longtime NFL backup who works as private quarterback coach in the Omaha area. “His drop was smooth. His fundamentals were very efficient and he throws a great ball.”
That’s a testament to the type of offense the Vols want to run under offensive coordinator Tyson Helton. It’s obvious this will be a pro-spread style that will utilize multiple receivers in West Coast route trees, feature running the football and downfield passing. It’s time to get back to real football, folks.
This is a vital piece to Tennessee’s puzzle, and the Vols really need him to pull the trigger, especially after Adrian Martinez flipped to Nebraska and UT cut Michael Penix loose to sign elsewhere. Shrout would be the only quarterback in Tennessee’s 2018 class, and he will be able to step right in and compete with Jarrett Guarantano, Quinten Dormady and Will McBride.
Shrout is an unfinished product, but he is the type of moldable piece for Helton. If he winds up choosing the Vols tomorrow, it will be a nice pickup. He has all the tools.