Pruitt Planning to Wait on Saturday for Vols Starting QB to be Revealed

Tennessee's depth chart was released earlier this week, and there was little change across the board. The most talked about piece on there was the quarterback position staying the same, however, if you have followed the Vols depth chart releases this fall, you know that you should not put too much stock into them . Shawn Shamburger was listed as the starter at the Star position for the first two weeks of the season, but he was not out there with the team. 

It is no surprise that Jeremy Pruitt chose not to reveal anything different about Tennessee's quarterback heading into the matchup against Auburn. 

Pruitt was asked today about the quarterback situation, and he said, Well, I’m going to wait and let that show itself on Saturday, you know? With Jarrett going down at the last game and obviously being out, we worked a lot of guys. I don’t think it does us an advantage to tell Auburn who we’re going to play at quarterback.”

Earlier in the week, Pruitt said on the quarterback situation, "Jarrett practiced, but all the other guys took a lot of reps over the last three practices, so we’ll see how the rest of the week goes here. I was real excited about how these other guys continue to work, and I thought Jarrett had a good day Sunday. To me, it seems to be a little more confidence offensively, especially with our younger guys, just having a better idea to how to execute at a higher level.”

He was asked about Bailey's growth later over the open week later in the press conference, and he said, "When you are comfortable doing something, running an offense, whatever it is, you have confidence, right? Your peers can see it. You can’t fake confidence. It’s either natural or it’s not. And that’s not to take anything away from him, but the more you do something, the more comfortable you get at it and the better you feel and the more confident you are, and you can see that — the simplicity of communicating the calls, all the way across the board. You’re talking about a young guy that’s sitting here, he’s got to tell Trey Smith which guy he’s supposed to block on this run play right here. The Mike’s 42 or whatever, we’re working to 42 — just some of that. Nothing different than you see out of any freshmen. It’s not different than Tamarion McDonald making all the calls in the secondary, or last year Henry To’o To’o, when Daniel Bituli was out, having to be kind of the quarterback of the defense. It’s something that the more you do it, the more you gain confidence in, and everybody sees it.”

It is unclear of who will get the start for Tennessee on Saturday, but if Pruitt & Company opt for Guarantano, it is likely his leash will be short. One would thing Bailey has to be the next man in, but it is tough to tell with the roulette game being played at the position. Bailey has been raved about during the last two weeks, so we will see if this is a true game time decision or if the Vols have prepared the freshman to play more of a role over the last four games.