Tennessee Football: The Jarrett Guarantano Show returns on Saturday

Jeremy Pruitt has announced that Jarrett Guarantano will lead Tennessee Football’s offense this Saturday in their game against Arkansas.

Regardless of how you feel about Jarrett Guarantano, you’ll have to power through at least one more game with him as Tennessee football’s quarterback.

Jeremy Pruitt announced on Wednesday that Guarantano will be returning as Tennessee’s starting quarterback coming off of the BYE Week, which isn’t too surprising after Guarantano was able to put together a decent performance against Alabama.

"“Jarrett will be the starter,” Pruitt said. “He understands our expectations, and I felt like he’s had another good week continuing to do the things that I’m talking about — getting the guys around him to play at a higher level.“It’s one thing about (playing) on the offensive side — it takes all 11 guys to play together. Defensively you can have a couple of great players, and they can make some plays, be erasers. But offensively, you can have 10 guys do exactly right, but the left guard gets beat, or he doesn’t do it the right way, and it messes up the entire play. It only takes one guy who can create a bad play offensively. That’s why you have to be able to play as a unit upfront, that’s why communication is so important, playing together, and that’s something we tried to continue to focus on over the last couple of weeks.”"

Tennessee’s game against Arkansas is a must-win if either team wants to finish the regular season with a winning record. Based on Tennessee’s last three performances, a loss this Saturday would make it very difficult for Tennessee to finish the regular season with a winning record.

The Vols would have to win out, and three of the Vols’ last four opponents are currently in the top-25. Tennessee’s likelihood of beating Texas A&M, Auburn, and Florida isn’t great, especially if Tennessee is going to stick with Guarantano at quarterback.

We could see a new quarterback in the last four games depending on Guarantano’s performance against Arkansas and Texas A&M. We know JG’s leash is pretty long, so Pruitt might have to cut that leash short if he wants to get back in the win column and JG isn’t getting in done on Saturday.

We’ve already seen JG get benched once this season after he threw two pick-sixes against Kentucky, but JT Shrout and Harrison Bailey were unable to prove that they were worthy of being the starter after limited opportunities on the field.

Tennessee and Arkansas will faceoff on Saturday night in Fayetville in what should be a close game. Sam Pittman’s Razorbacks are feeling good, while Pruitt’s Vols need to get back in the win column.