Ranking Vol QB's - Andy Kelly to present day

[butchna]

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.

He was garbage in the Arkansas game. The TEAM overcame it.

 

[TNnative]

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.

Your being a Bears fan is showing.

 

[KBVol]

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

BS. “Tee” didn’t win ish. He was the mediocre quarterback on a championship team who played his role well, and who particularly in 1998 came up with a handful of clutch plays....something he didn’t duplicate in 1999.

And if Tee has been a better quarterback, we wouldn’t have struggled nearly as much as we did with Syracuse, Florida and Arkansas that year. I personally don’t think Tee belongs in the Top 5, while I think Dobbs, who’s a much better qb than Tee (and also black), belongs in the top 4, behind Manning, Shuler and Clausen.

If we take it back before Kelly, I think Tony Robinson was the most gifted Tennessee qb I’ve ever seen. Am I still a racist?

 

[butchna]

Your being a Bears fan is showing.

That I’m not a front runner? You’re right. :thumbsup:

 

[volfan102455]

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 Martin is up that high only because of the NC. I would trade him with Dobbs.

 

[GAVol]

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.

Well, then you have to deduct points for Tee's regression in 1999. No way that team should've lost 3 games.

 

[FïreBall]

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!

This x10

 

[KBVol]

He was garbage in the Arkansas game. The TEAM overcame it.

Was bad vs Syracuse and Florida too....9/26 vs Syracuse and threw for 64 yards vs Florida. Had he been better, those games wouldn’t have been so difficult to win. And as you said, he was atrocious vs Arky when he went 10/27, including 0-4 on the drive where we needed to score before the Stoerner stumble and fumble.

 

[butchna]

Was bad vs Syracuse and Florida too....9/26 vs Syracuse and threw for 64 yards vs Florida. Had he been better, those games wouldn’t have been so difficult to win. And as you said, he was atrocious vs Arky when he went 10/27, including 0-4 on the drive where we needed to score before the Stoerner stumble and fumble.

I give him a little leeway in the Syracuse game because he did make hugely significant plays that won it. Right with you on Florida...won DESPITE him.

 

[DiderotsGhost]

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

Clausen vs Martin is tough. Martin won the national title and had a great football IQ, even if he couldn't take over a game in the same way Clausen did. But Clausen won so many big road games. I'm going to give a slight edge to Clausen (who probably wins a national title in 2001 if he had the 1998 defense against LSU).

I'd put Dobbs over Ainge and Kelly. Most controversially, I'd put JG ahead of Worley and Crompton. JG's stats as a Rs-FR (w/o virtually no protection from the O-line) were already better than many other guys on the list at the same age (Crompton, Dobbs, Ainge, Kelly). I still think VN is largely underestimating JG.

 

[KBVol]

I give him a little leeway in the Syracuse game because he did make hugely significant plays that won it. Right with you on Florida...won DESPITE him.

He had a penchant for the big play in most of our wins....in 1998. That penchant was nonexistent in 1999. Agree 100% that we oftentimes relied on his teammates to overcome his poor play to win games.

 

[butchna]

He had a penchant for the big play in most of our wins....in 1998. That penchant was nonexistent in 1999.

I’d say huge regression, but I think the whole team lost the pure spirit and force that was Al Wilson

 

[BowlBrother85]

I agree 100% on the top 4.

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

I'd put Dobbs over Ainge and Kelly, though, and I saw enough from JG last season (in less than ideal circumstances) that I would put him over Crompton and Worley. JG's stats as a Rs-FR (w/o virtually no protection from the O-line) were already better than many other guys on the list at the same age (Crompton, Dobbs, Ainge, Kelly). You have to go back to Casey Clausen to find a Freshman or Sophomore QB that played better than JG (and Clausen was extraordinarily good as a Spoh). If he improves, he could conceivably be in the top 5 on this list.

Meh, not really. Erik Ainge had a solid season in 2004. 17 TD's with 9 Int's and 1,452 yards. He was clutch down the stretch vs Florida. He took a huge step back in 2005 for some reason ... substance abuse, maybe?

 

[DiderotsGhost]

Meh, not really. Erik Ainge had a solid season in 2004. 17 TD's with 9 Int's and 1,452 yards. He was clutch down the stretch vs Florida. He took a huge step back in 2005 for some reason ... substance abuse, maybe?

Ainge is complicated, because he was good as a Freshman, but pretty terrible as a Sophomore. He then found his groove as a Jr and Sr when Cutcliffe came back. Which is also a pretty big testament to how important coaching is at the QB position in college.

Though, even as a Freshman, Ainge's results were mixed. He was good against Florida, Georgia, and Notre Dame. He was bad against Auburn, Bama, and Ole Miss. He threw 4 INTs versus Auburn and 2 versus Bama. The main difference with JG is that he didn't really get a lot of cupcake games to pad his stats with.

 

[jpope9]

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

you should probably go back to not posting....

 

[Denton'sGhostGBO]

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

55.4% completion
4592 yrds passing
32 TD's 16 INT's

8 defensive players from 98 to 99 went in draft
Had Lewis, Stephens, and Henry in the backfield.

If we go by the numbers, he was not even as good as Tyler Bray statistically.

%
Martin - 55.4%
Bray - 58.6

MArtin(Career) 4592 yards passing
Bray(last 2 seasons) 5595 yards passing

Martin was 2 to 1 on TD/INT
Bray was a shade under 3 to 1 on TD/INT


Now we all know Bray was not the better QB as there are more intangibles than the stat book. However, he was far from being the game dominator that a Manning was. MArtin was a solid college QB with a wonderful defense, and Martin was one helluva game manager.

 

[VolForLife83]

Depends on how your ranking them. Tee gave us NC, Manning is possible GOAT, but couldn't ever beat FLA. Clausen will never get the respect he deserved. Bray with a defense and better staff could have been more successful then all of them. Same could be said for Dobbs. Ainge will always have a special place with me. All these guys were special, but without knowing why your ranking it makes no sense. Success at the college level? Individual skill level, stats, favorite, etc. There's just too much to factor for me to make a list

 

[butchna]

Depends on how your ranking them. Tee gave us NC, Manning is possible GOAT, but couldn't ever beat FLA. Clausen will never get the respect he deserved. Bray with a defense and better staff could have been more successful then all of them. Same could be said for Dobbs. Ainge will always have a special place with me. All these guys were special, but without knowing why your ranking it makes no sense. Success at the college level? Individual skill level, stats, favorite, etc. There's just too much to factor for me to make a list

Go with YOUR criteria. Think that was the intent.

 

[VOLnVANDYland]

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

Lol. Please. Where did Martin go in the draft? And where did Peyton go in the draft?

1998 was a year of destiny. You could argue several of Peyton's teams were better, just couldn't get over the Florida/Wuerffel hump

 

[fatal1]

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. Just

in Worley

was Holloway too early for this list?

 

[pismonque]

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?

Oh man oh man. I'm typically not a vocally negative fan but back when Kelly was playing I used to go nuts over his crap accuracy. People would point to some good passing numbers he had for a particular game and I would always tell them to go back and re-watch those passes. So many of his completions were rescues by really talented receivers.

Dang it, BB. Now you got me all riled up again a quarter century on.

 

[preacherrandy]

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

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Syracuse and Arkansas screw up in the last minutes of the game to allow the Vols to win? I know you have games like that during the season but skin color has nothing to do with getting lucky.

 

[VolBraniac]

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

 

[1Big_Orange_Fan]

I'd go as far as putting Dobbs at #2. The guy literally carried the team on his back for 2 years. Yes, Manning was clearly a better QB but (my opinion) Dobbs would've done just as well or better than any of the other QBs given the teams they played on.

 

[VolPack22]

Matt Simms and Nathan Peterman