Why Tennessee Football should stick with Guarantano and why they shouldn’t
Tennessee Football has one of the worst offenses in the SEC right now, but is that entirely Jarrett Guarantano’s fault, or is he being unfairly blamed?
It’s no secret that Tennessee football is not the best when it comes to the offense, but whose fault is it? Most fans blame Jarrett Guarantano, while others might blame play-calling. In my opinion, it’s a mixture of the two, and the Vols could use a fresh QB and play-caller, but the stats indicate the Vols should stick with Guarantano.
SEC StatCat took to Twitter to look at the SEC’s ten most accurate downfield quarterbacks when under pressure, and they found something that could be very interesting for Vol fans. Per Depth Adjustment Accuracy Percentage, Guarantano leads the SEC with 64% accuracy. The SEC average comes in at 42.8%.
Guarantano has been good at throwing the ball down the field. That’s not what Tennessee fans are upset about. The fact that Guarantano can’t be as accurate throwing the ball less than 15 yards is what Tennessee fans are upset about. The play-calling that forces Guarantano to make throws that everyone knows he can’t make is what Tennessee fans are upset about.
Based on the play-calling that we’ve seen over the past couple of seasons, it seems like Jim Chaney probably isn’t at his best when it comes to calling plays. Surely Chaney has access to Guarantano’s stats and knows that throwing 5-10 yard passes every play isn’t his strong suit.
If those are the types of plays that Jeremy Pruitt and Chaney want to call for the offense, then Guarantano can’t be the quarterback to lead them because he’s not going to be a very successful quarterback running those plays as we’ve seen.
Let your running backs get the 5-10 yard gains instead of relying on Guarantano to do it. Eric Gray and Ty Chandler are great running backs that have already had a big impact on the offense, so Chaney should be building the offensive play-calling around them.
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If Tennessee builds its play-calling around its strengths instead of where the ball is compared to the first down marker and the end zone, then the offense will see significant improvements. Luckily, the Vols had a BYE week this week to figure all of that out. Let’s hope they get it right.