Halzle: Vols QB Bailey ‘Made a Big Jump Mentally’
Tennessee quarterback coach Joey Halzle was available to the media, and he had high praise for each of his quarterbacks, but did note that he saw a “big jump” from Harrison Bailey this off-season.
"It's been really positive," Halzle said on his assessment of the quarterbacks. “For starters, everyone is going out and competing their butts off, not getting a bunch of misses with call and protections, calling runs as fast as we go. Our eye discipline has been really good, and zero turnovers so far in camp right now. In camp, the first couple days you always have a tendency to be sloppy, especially with a new offense, but guys are doing a great job getting their eyes in the right place, getting the body in the right place and taking care of the football."
"I think it's always positive in fall camp when you have competition," Halzle added. "With that said, if you have competition at the quarterback position, that means you don't have a solidified starter that's played a bunch of ball for you. We do understand that it's coming down to it. It's about that time. So, we are pressing both the guys and the coaching staff to start figuring out who is going to separate themselves. And as that guy, or two guys or three guys start to separate themselves, they'll see their rep count go up, and they'll see that they're getting more pushed to get ready for the actual game day on Sept. 2."
As September 2nd draws closer, all eyes remain on the quarterback position. Each guy in the room has a unique skill set, coupled with starting experience, which arguably gives Tennessee the best quarterback room from top to bottom they have had in years. However, this also makes it tougher to separate each guy, as they all do something better than the rest.
For Harrison Bailey, he is the most highly regarded name in the room, with arguably the most lofty expectations from the Tennessee fanbase. The former five-star signal-caller from Marietta has been a household name since his before freshman season of high school ball, but due to COVID-19, his development was slowed last season as Tennessee’s previous staff did not have a chance to circulate reps.
Despite that, Bailey impressed at times during the spring, and he won the day at the Orange and White game, but according to Halzle, the second-year quarterback has made significant strides this off-season.
"The thing with Harrison is he's made a big jump mentally off the field.” Halzle said when asked about his progression from January. “He was just so young when he got here. He's really worked hard to get himself to where he can call it quickly. And he can see the defense, recognize what he's getting. Am I getting pressure? Am I getting weak rotation? Too high, single high? He's doing a much better job of processing that. When you get that, now your body follows because now you can actually get yourself in the right position. It's hard to have good body position when you have no idea what you're looking at on the front end. So, he's done a great job grinding in the classroom. It's a little bit different than Hendon, who's a grad transfer coming in and has a bunch of classroom experience and a bunch of game experience. He understands what he's seeing, and he was working on the physical side of it. Harrison pushed really, really hard on the mental side of it."
