Tennessee Football: In the famous words of John Ward “It’s time”

Tennessee needs a spark on offense, and they saw a small flash against Florida with Brian Maurer, so it’s time to give this kid a real chance.

If it weren’t for Brian Maurer, the Vols would have been shut out last Saturday against Florida. Maurer is the only plausible solution for the Vols right now merely because Jarrett Guarantano isn’t getting the job done and that’s not changing

The only major issue I had from his performance against Florida is Maurer didn’t get enough playing time. Maurer looked decent for being thrown into that position to start the second half, but he’s pulled after he threw a pick that wasn’t wholly his fault.

I told people before the game and during the game that the Vols will not beat Florida if JG is playing and when Maurer went in I said Tennessee had at least a chance to win at that point.

I was proved right to an extent with both of those statements. The first one was pretty easy to make. Guarantano showed not only he didn’t have what it took to win the game, but he also couldn’t score.

I can’t say for sure Maurer isn’t the answer for the Vols it could be JT Shrout, but I know it’s not Guarantano. The only time the Vols scored was on a drive led by Maurer. That drive came on Maurer’s first drive of the game, too.

Right now I think it’s easy to say that the coaching staff knows what Guarantano offers and they’re just hoping they can get to next year with Harrison Bailey, but if I were Bailey I would have some red flags go off with how the coaching staff is treating Maurer and even Shrout.

Every week we go with Guarantano as our starting quarterback and not giving the backups a chance to earn the starting job then he’s going to continue hurting himself with the fanbase.

For the situation Maurer was in, I think he looked pretty good. It’s tough to throw a freshman into that position, and he responded pretty well. Give him a real chance against Georgia and let’s see what happens.