Tennessee quarterback Quinten Dormady will not be available for the Kentucky game this evening due to a shoulder injury. Dormady has reportedly been battling the injury since “well before the start of the season” and is now exploring surgery as an option to correct the problem.
Hearing now that this has been an issue since before the season really makes you wonder about Dormady starting the first five games of the season and how much it may have impacted his performance. But if he was hampered by the injury, why not start Jarrett Guarantano sooner? Perhaps the coaches felt that Dormady with the injury was still the better option at the time, and maybe Dormady figures that time spent as the backup on the bench now provides him with the opportunity to engage in a long-term fix that requires recovery time.
It does leave the team in a risky situation, though, because if Guarantano goes down with injury, that will thrust freshman Will McBride — the nation’s #29 dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2017 — into the starting role. McBride hasn’t played yet this season and has thus far been destined for a redshirt season.