Ranking Vol QB's - Andy Kelly to present day

[JCHateSteve]

Casey, and it isn't even close. Casey Clausen is probably the most underrated and underappreciated player in the history of the school. All the guy did was not make mistakes, keep teams in games, and give us great chances to win, especially on the road in tough environments. 14-1 on the road and 34-10 overall. I don't think he was embraced by the fans because he wasn't flashy, seemed really aloof, and didn't have something "special" about him like Dobbs and many other of our QBs did.

If anything, Tennessee fans overrated Dobbs while he was here, particularly his passing ability.

I think your right about about why Casey was under appreciated. I do think Dobbs took more heat in his time here though. The drop off after Josh left was catastrophic as well. How about this, how under appreciated was Dobbs if we ignore D4H?

 

[stevenrich2003]

Finally. It was just a matter of time before a racist squatted in the middle of a great discussion and took a gigantic dump ...

:good!:

 

[BowlBrother85]

I am interested to see the opinions on this one. Please limit your rankings to guys who logged significant starts if you don't mind. Just list your top 10.

My personal ranking looks like this:
1. Peyton Manning
2. Heath Shuler
3. Tee Martin
4. Casey Clausen
5. Andy Kelly
6. Joshua Dobbs
7. Erik Ainge
8. Tyler Bray
9. Jonathan Crompton
10. Justin Worley

I hate to give Andy Kelly a hard time but the only QB's I would have lower on this list are Crompton and Worley. Despite playing with some of the best offensive talent we've ever had from '89-'91, (WR's - Carl Pickens, Alvin Harper, Anthony Morgan RB's - Reggie Cobb, Chuck Webb, Tony Thompson, James Stewart, Aaron Hayden FB's Greg Amsler, Roland Poles Off Linemen - Charles McRae, Antone Davis, Eric Still, Tom Myslinski), Andy Kelly was a weak armed, interception machine... and at the worst possible times. He never threw more TD passes than he did Int's in a season. 38 interceptions in only 846 career attempts? And many of them were pick 6's. That's ridiculous. We won in spite of him those years; not because of him.

Can you imagine Shuler or Manning with WR's as good as Pickens and Harper?

 

[05_never_again]

I think your right about about why Casey was under appreciated. I do think Dobbs took more heat in his time here though. The drop off after Josh left was catastrophic as well. How about this, how under appreciated was Dobbs if we ignore D4H?

The offensive drop off was catastrophic after Dobbs, you're right, but it doesn't mean Dobbs was underappreciated. It just showed how much of a joke Butch was.

Forget D4H. I don't know exactly how widespread this view was, but a lot of Vol fans seemed to think Dobbs was "almost" an elite player, or a guy that if he put it all together could be on the edge of a Heisman discussion. Basically a more sane version of D4H's arguments.

I don't think he was ever remotely that good, and unfortunately a big reason why he was never that good is because of the coaching (or lack thereof) he received at Tennessee. That guy achieved everything he did here entirely on his own. He never learned how to throw the ball, and never truly learned how to efficiently read the DE on a read option. Truly a shame. I think the highest you can realistically rate him is that he was one of the better QBs we've had in the last 25 or so years; he doesn't approach being one of the better QBs in the history of the school or anything like that.

 

[JazzMaster001]

I am interested to see the opinions on this one. Please limit your rankings to guys who logged significant starts if you don't mind. Just list your top 10.

My personal ranking looks like this:
1. Peyton Manning
2. Heath Shuler
3. Tee Martin
4. Casey Clausen
5. Andy Kelly
6. Joshua Dobbs
7. Erik Ainge
8. Tyler Bray
9. Jonathan Crompton
10. Justin Worley

Tee > Shuler
Ainge > Dobbs

 

[JCHateSteve]

The offensive drop off was catastrophic after Dobbs, you're right, but it doesn't mean Dobbs was underappreciated. It just showed how much of a joke Butch was.

Forget D4H. I don't know exactly how widespread this view was, but a lot of Vol fans seemed to think Dobbs was "almost" an elite player, or a guy that if he put it all together could be on the edge of a Heisman discussion. Basically a more sane version of D4H's arguments.

I don't think he was ever remotely that good, and unfortunately a big reason why he was never that good is because of the coaching (or lack thereof) he received at Tennessee. That guy achieved everything he did here entirely on his own. He never learned how to throw the ball, and never truly learned how to efficiently read the DE on a read option. Truly a shame. I think the highest you can realistically rate him is that he was one of the better QBs we've had in the last 25 or so years; he doesn't approach being one of the better QBs in the history of the school or anything like that.

I don't think he was better than Casey by any stretch. I just don't think we (myself included) appreciate how much our wins were because of him turning busted plays into positives. He covered up Butch's short comings more than anything else while he was here. It's less about how good a QB he was and more the impact he had. He can be worse QB and still be more under appreciated. For the record I'm only arguing for Dobbs because you took Casey. It's hard to nail it down for Josh. Somehow he was overated as a QB but still under appreciated for the things he did here. Like I said it's a good topic.

 

[508mikey]

There it is! I knew someone was going to pull the R Clausen tops Worley card. It is definitely close.

He also won the Cotton Bowl --his season after was a disaster though

 

[allenrikvik]

I hate to give Andy Kelly a hard time but the only QB's I would have lower on this list are Crompton and Worley. Despite playing with some of the best offensive talent we've ever had from '89-'91, (WR's - Carl Pickens, Alvin Harper, Anthony Morgan RB's - Reggie Cobb, Chuck Webb, Tony Thompson, James Stewart, Aaron Hayden FB's Greg Amsler, Roland Poles Off Linemen - Charles McRae, Antone Davis, Eric Still, Tom Myslinski), Andy Kelly was a weak armed, interception machine... and at the worst possible times. He never threw more TD passes than he did Int's in a season. 38 interceptions in only 846 career attempts? And many of them were pick 6's. That's ridiculous. We won in spite of him those years; not because of him.

Can you imagine Shuler or Manning with WR's as good as Pickens and Harper?

Fully agree. That was real talent and would make anyone look good and the better QBs would look great. Personally, I liked Ainge.

 

[checkerboards09]

I am interested to see the opinions on this one. Please limit your rankings to guys who logged significant starts if you don't mind. Just list your top 10.

My personal ranking looks like this:
1. Peyton Manning
2. Heath Shuler
3. Tee Martin
4. Casey Clausen
5. Andy Kelly
6. Joshua Dobbs
7. Erik Ainge
8. Tyler Bray
9. Jonathan Crompton
10. Justin Worley

I’d put Rick Clausen in there before Worley.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

You guys ranking Dobbs above Clausen are crazy...

Statistically, only Peyton put up better numbers than Casey, and he was a road WARRIOR ..only lost 2 games on the road while he was here. If he had been from South Carolina instead of Southern California he would be a hero...and second only to Peyton in anyone's book...didn't make it in the pros but he was a very good college QB. I absolutely love Heath, he was my favorite athlete as a kid...I still don't know that i could rank him above Casey based strictly on what he did wearing orange.

Edit...

9707 yards, 75 passing TDs, 14 and 1 on the road as a starter...freshman all SEC, sporting news freshman all American, and the 2002 citrus bowl MVP...yeah, he was pretty good.

Overall 34 and 10 in 4 years on the hill...

 

[butchna]

You could argue swapping Shuler and Martin. Other than that, looks like a dead-on ranking.

Head to head, Shuler was better. Put him on that 98 team and we don’t need a miracle against Arkansas and we beat the absolute snot out of FSU!

 

[BeecherVol]

For me.

1. Peyton Manning
2. Heath Shuler
3. Casey Clausen
4. Andy Kelly
5. Joshua Dobbs
6. Tyler Bray
7. Tee Martin
8. Erik Ainge
9. Jonathan Crompton
10. Justin Worley

Good list my only change would be Kelly slightly over Clausen.

 

[butchna]

I’d put Rick Clausen in there before Worley.

.

 

[hndog609]

That's so hard to say because the offenses they ran were so different. Tee ran a traditional, vanilla, pro-style offense while Dobbs ran a spread option-type of offense.

Tee was a much better thrower of the football than Dobbs was. Tee was a good improvised scrambler, but this was an area where Dobbs absolutely excelled and was better than Tee. Tee didn't have many designed QB runs or any read option plays like Dobbs did, but Dobbs didn't exactly excel at designed QB runs or reading the defensive end on the read option either.

They helped their teams in totally different ways; Tee made throws and protected the football while Dobbs ran for first downs after plays broke down. I would have loved to see what Dobbs could have done with a better offensive line.

In 1998 Tee completed 57% of his passes for 2164 yards. That year we actually rushed for more yards than we passed. We also had a hell of a defense. Tee was actually asked to do very little compared to what was asked of Josh.

 

[05_never_again]

I don't think he was better than Casey by any stretch. I just don't think we (myself included) appreciate how much our wins were because of him turning busted plays into positives. He covered up Butch's short comings more than anything else while he was here. It's less about how good a QB he was and more the impact he had. He can be worse QB and still be more under appreciated. For the record I'm only arguing for Dobbs because you took Casey. It's hard to nail it down for Josh. Somehow he was overated as a QB but still under appreciated for the things he did here. Like I said it's a good topic.

I think we all totally underestimated just how much he covered up Butch's shortcomings, but at the same time I don't think he was ever as good as a lot of fans thought he was. It's not totally his fault, but sadly I don't think Dobbs really learned a lot about playing the position while he was here. He never really read defenses, never developed as a thrower, and never was able to excel at read option plays despite being an excellent and elusive scrambler. I think if Dobbs truly was an elite player, he would have been able to develop a little more than he did just purely on his own.

If he had great coaching, I think he probably could have gone down as a top 5 QB in the history of the school. If he fully developed, he would have been a hell of a weapon; could make more throws, run the read option, and just flat out beat you with improvised runs when the play broke down. But he didn't unfortunately, and because of that I think you have to put him behind guys who had "unfair" advantages over him (better coaching, better teammates, etc.). It's hard to know what his full potential was because of the poor coaching he received.

 

[smokey0625]

Nope. He is the only QB on the list we have had to win a Natty. In no way was he a better QB than Peyton or Shuler. I wouldn't care if he was purple or electric blue he still wasn't as good as those two. On a personal note I've met Tee and he is an outstanding human being.

Racist.

I kidd. That guy's an idiot.

 

[Defaultuser]

You guys ranking Dobbs above Clausen are crazy...

Statistically, only Peyton put up better numbers than Casey, and he was a road WARRIOR ..only lost 2 games on the road while he was here. If he had been from South Carolina instead of Southern California he would be a hero...and second only to Peyton in anyone's book...didn't make it in the pros but he was a very good college QB. I absolutely love Heath, he was my favorite athlete as a kid...I still don't know that i could rank him above Casey based strictly on what he did wearing orange.

Edit...

9707 yards, 75 passing TDs, 14 and 1 on the road as a starter...freshman all SEC, sporting news freshman all American, and the 2002 citrus bowl MVP...yeah, he was pretty good.

Overall 34 and 10 in 4 years on the hill...

Clausen was good. But he played on a team full of stars, don't forget that little tid bit. It is obvious who had the better supporting cast on both sides of the ball, yet no mention in your stat analysis, nor a true comparison of the two.

 

[Fullfillmer]

Tee won the whole darn thing!!! Only reason he is not #1 is his skin color

Only reason you make this argument is because of his skin color.

This may be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on Volnation and there are some doozies on here. You have someone who wasn't good enough to make an NFL team ranked over someone who is universally agreed to be one of the top 3 NFL quarterbacks of all time.

I know that Dobbs had better stats than Tee - Tee was a nice guy and a good athlete but Dobbs > Martin which means Tee is not number one .... sorry. Tee was the beneficiary of having a great cast and a great defense paired up with him. He is ranked appropriately - move on nothing to see here.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Clausen was good. But he played on a team full of stars, don't forget that little tid bit. It is obvious who had the better supporting cast on both sides of the ball, yet no mention in your stat analysis, nor a true comparison of the two.

This is a valid point. Casey certainly had better teams. He also threw for almost 10,000 yards and 75 TDS though...Dobbs is a great athlete, and a great guy. I dont think he could throw for that many yards and scores if he had peerless price and Joey Kent. Some games, Dobbs just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and the other teams knew it. So they stacked the defense and dared us to beat them over the top. We couldn't. Oklahoma wad a great example. Love the kid, great off the field. Casey didn't have games where he couldn't throw the ball. 14 and 1 as a starter on the road is much better than Peyton...he also beat the gators, more than once. Hard to put any of those guys above him, but I love em all...they are all VOLS, so they have my respect and thanks.

 

[TNnative]

Yes, I just saw that. My bad:hi:

IMO, it's the list restriction's bad. Anytime you talk about Tennessee QBs, but can't talk about T-Rob, Conredge, Captain You Know, or Dewey Warren? You are leaving the best parts of the discussion.

 

[butchna]

This is a valid point. Casey certainly had better teams. He also threw for almost 10,000 yards and 75 TDS though...Dobbs is a great athlete, and a great guy. I dont think he could throw for that many yards and scores if he had peerless price and Joey Kent. Some games, Dobbs just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and the other teams knew it. So they stacked the defense and dared us to beat them over the top. We couldn't. Oklahoma wad a great example. Love the kid, great off the field. Casey didn't have games where he couldn't throw the ball. 14 and 1 as a starter on the road is much better than Peyton...he also beat the gators, more than once. Hard to put any of those guys above him, but I love em all...they are all VOLS, so they have my respect and thanks.

Clausen couldn’t throw against the U when the Vols snapped their home winning streak. There were other games where he was stifled.

 

[Volsfaninva917]

Tee won the whole darn thing!!! Only reason he is not #1 is his skin color

Yes, whenever someone has a different opinion than you play the race card. That will show them!

 

[KBVol]

I will get it started for ya....

You give Josh Dobbs some of those players and a HC from the past and he's top 3 no doubt if not already.

Dobbs is better than Martin ever dreamed of being.

Agreed. I’d put Dobbs and Clausen easily ahead of Martin. And I’m not so sure 1 or 2 others on that list don’t belong ahead of Tee as well.

 

[butchna]

IMO, it's the list restriction's bad. Anytime you talk about Tennessee QBs, but can't talk about T-Rob, Conredge, Captain You Know, or Dewey Warren? You are leaving the best parts of the discussion.

Make your own thread with your own stipulations then! Cutting it off at Kelly put a current feel to it, so I was enjoying the discussion with the parameters the OP placed.

 

[TNnative]

Here's the thing...Tee Martin didn't win a NC...the Vols did. As a matter of sheer talent Tee wasn't close to the best player on that team or even in the discussion. Obviously it's speculative opinion in any such conversation but I don't think Tee does as much with the same team as Dobbs. That's not a knock on Tee of course but watching just Dobbs it looked like he did more for his team as far as making an individual difference.

Swell, the old Tee didn't win it, the Vols did argument.

One thing that thinking overlooks; Tee didn't lose it for us. And as much as I admire Peyton, he managed to have that handful of bad plays (and we can argue till the cows come home who gets the blame for each) that prevented him from getting a shot at the NC. And so did every other QB on the list except for Tee.

There is much to be said for players who manage not to lose a championship.