Tennessee Vols: Predictions For 2017 Season; Who Will Be UT’s MVP?

How Will Tennessee’s quarterback battle play out?

Butch Jones has been incredibly tight lipped about the Vols’ quarterback competition, which makes me think he won’t officially name a starter before the season gets underway.

Jones told the media on Sunday that as of right now he doesn’t know who the starter will be, adding “when it happens, it happens”.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that for a second.

While I believe that Jones does want to see how fall camp plays out, it would be asinine to think he hasn’t already formed a plan in his head.

For what it’s worth, it appears the battle is close. I think Jones likes Quinten Dormady’s consistency, but also likes Jarrett Guarantano’s potential. Of the two quarterbacks, Guarantano likely has the higher ceiling.

Jones is doing his due diligence in studying every aspect of each quarterback. He told reporters at Tennessee’s media day that he’s been watching how the quarterbacks interact with each other, who they eat with, how they interact with other position groups, etc.

If I had to guess right now, which is basically what the point of this article is, I’d go with Dormady as the starter against Georgia Tech. But I don’t think he will be firmly entrenched as the starter. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones names Dormady and Guarantano as co-starters.

And honestly, that’s probably the best thing for Jones to do. Neither one of these quarterbacks have been “the guy” at Tennessee. So we really don’t know how either will react to being the starting quarterback. The only way to find out is through game action.

If Dormady gets the start against Georgia Tech and isn’t effective, I think Jones will quickly throw Guarantano into the game and give him a chance to take the job.

Both players will likely have an opportunity to become the starting quarterback at Tennessee, but might take a week or two to figure out which one it’s going to be.