Following Loss To Arkansas, Vols QB Picture Becomes Increasingly Clear, If Bailey is The Future, Give Him the Reins

Jeremy Pruitt’s team has avoided a revolving door at the quarterback position in 2020 for the most part. Unlike 2019, Pruitt has stuck by Jarrett Guarantano through even the worst times. During that 2019 campaign, you never knew who was healthy enough to play or who was going to go into the game based on the other person's poor performance. At only one point this season, before last night, did Tennessee use multiple quarterbacks because of poor play. Now, granted, the Vols would have stuck with Jarrett Guarantano to the end of the game had he not been forced out of the contest with a head injury. Albeit, he was not playing poorly, the offense looked severely limited with him behind center. Pruitt addressed the quarterback situation last night, and the picture is becoming increasingly clear for the remainder of the season.

With four games left on the schedule, including dates with two top-10 teams, Jeremy Pruitt’s team sits at 2-4. The season is lost in terms of championship goals. So, with no win restrictions and COVID-19 being a factor, the Vols could likely still make a bowl even if the only remaining team they beat was Vanderbilt. It is time to hand the reigns to the future of your program, Harrison Bailey. Jeremy Pruitt recruited Bailey to be the future of his program, if that is still the case, then hand him the ball.

The freshman was the third man off the bench last night, and he handed it off six times in a row before a poor situation and missed passed interference call led to a ball being batted in the air and intercepted. After the 0-1 start, Bailey finished 6/9 for 65 yards and led the team in passing. On the final drive, Bailey took what was in front of him as Tennessee ran four verticals time and again. He did not force the ball into double coverage, but after a couple of quick check-downs around the first down marker, Bailey ripped a 24-yard throw to Brandon Johnson between two defenders. Had Tennessee elected to kick a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down the drive before, the Vols would have at least had an opportunity to be more creative and try to tie the game.

Given the unknown severity of Guarantano's head injury, he is likely to miss at least one, if not more, practice session this week. So, if not now for moving on to Bailey, then when?

Following the game, Pruitt said, “Well, I mean, the doctors just said (Guarantano) was out of the game, so we’ll obviously see that over the next couple of days. Brian came in, and Brian ran around a little bit but couldn’t get nothing going there, so we went with Harrison.”

He would add about each young QB’s performance, “I felt like the plays that we called when Brian was in there, they were eight-dropping. There wasn’t a lot of places to throw the ball, so he threw the ball away — which, that was fine — or he scrambled. I thought (with) Harrison, same deal. The situation that he’s in, he had to throw check-downs, so he’s probably got to learn to really kind of force the ball in there based off the scenario that he’s in, but he done fine.”

Maurer finished the night 0-3 with two passes almost intercepted. It’s a small sample size, to say the least, but not much different from last season, when he put the ball in harms way more times than not.

As mentioned above, Bailey was told he was the future of Tennessee’s program and that he was coming here to help Jeremy Pruitt make the Vols prominent once again. The class built around him was sold on that same notion. There is absolutely nothing left to lose by going to Bailey for the last four games, but there is plenty to gain. While it may not result in a wild finish like last season, by playing Bailey down the stretch, Tennessee can build towards the type of program that Pruitt says he is accustomed to being around at no cost whatsoever. Tennessee can show recruits that they are not content with where they are. They can show that their recruiting pitches hold true, and they could still possibly win games because there is no way the offense could be anymore handicapped than it looked on Saturday night. Even if Jarrett Guarantano gives you the best chance to win now, it is not about the present anymore.

Tennessee will host Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.