Lack of spring practice puts a damper on any quarterback battles

#1

Freak

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#1
I hadn’t really thought about it until today but not having spring practice has to increase the already high odds that JG is our starting quarterback this year.

A spring quarterback competition ending in an Orange and White Game showdown would have been fun.
 
#3
#3
I hadn’t really thought about it until today but not having spring practice has to increase the already high odds that JG is our starting quarterback this year.

A spring quarterback competition ending in an Orange and White Game showdown would have been fun.

That makes sense. For freshmen QB's, you don't know what you don't know. I am wondering if JG was greatly assisted by #1 and #15 because of their ability to catch passes and will suffer without them OR was their lack of blazing speed hampering JG and with faster receivers he will be greatly improved?

Can a team win the east with a freshman QB? Maybe, but the odds would be low.
 
#4
#4
I hadn’t really thought about it until today but not having spring practice has to increase the already high odds that JG is our starting quarterback this year.

A spring quarterback competition ending in an Orange and White Game showdown would have been fun.
I honestly think he would have started no matter what
 
#5
#5
That makes sense. For freshmen QB's, you don't know what you don't know. I am wondering if JG was greatly assisted by #1 and #15 because of their ability to catch passes and will suffer without them OR was their lack of blazing speed hampering JG and with faster receivers he will be greatly improved?

Can a team win the east with a freshman QB? Maybe, but the odds would be low.

Blue font ?
 
#9
#9
JG will start the season and I agree that was going to happen either way. The question is how long will it last? I predict we'll see HB early in the season. If there is one.
I just think lack of spring really hurts an incoming freshman quarterback. It seems to me the chances of seeing him get any meaningful playing time took a nosedive when it was all cancelled.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see an extended fall practice allowance or something. I’m not counting on it though.
 
#12
#12
That makes sense. For freshmen QB's, you don't know what you don't know. I am wondering if JG was greatly assisted by #1 and #15 because of their ability to catch passes and will suffer without them OR was their lack of blazing speed hampering JG and with faster receivers he will be greatly improved?

Can a team win the east with a freshman QB? Maybe, but the odds would be low.
I think lack of experience at wide receiver is a big issue no matter who the quarterback is.

It would be interesting to know if a freshman, who didn’t go through spring practice, has come into a program in the SEC and had a meaningful season at quarterback. Maybe it’s happened? I have no idea.
 
#13
#13
Another take would be that sans practice JG would have difficulty creating distance between himself and other candidates. It would’ve been the first time at UT he would’ve been working with the same OC and QB coach in successive seasons.
 
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#16
#16
You think that losing 2 NFL caliber wide receivers will be beneficial to JG?
They were good but not great. They will be mid round picks.

The guys coming in could be better. That is one of the teams biggest question marks. They should be much more explosive and faster this year.

Depending on playcalling and execution they may be better for the qb this year whoever it is.
 
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#17
#17
I think lack of experience at wide receiver is a big issue no matter who the quarterback is.

It would be interesting to know if a freshman, who didn’t go through spring practice, has come into a program in the SEC and had a meaningful season at quarterback. Maybe it’s happened? I have no idea.

Freak...it's happened for 5 QBs in the past 4 years
Eason and Hurtz in 2016
Had Tua and Frohm in 2017.
2019 had Bo Nix.

Why do we go through this every off-season?? How many times does it need to happen for us to see a Freshman QB can have a huge impact?
 
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#19
#19
Did you see the combine performances that JJ and MC had? We had to have the slowest starting tandem in the SEC.

Did you see them catching balls over everybody on the field is what mattered...

JG won't have those bailouts anymore.
He'll have to use his feet more. Why he hasn't done that more is beyond me. He's not slow.

1 of 3 things needs to happen for Tenn to take the next step.

1) JG speeds up his processing

2) Brian Maurer becomes more disciplined in the art of playing QB

3) Harrison Bailey lives up to the hype.

If any of those 3 things can happen, then the Vols will be right in the thick of it, because our defense is going to be a problem for teams this season and moving forward.
 
#20
#20
Freak...it's happened for 5 QBs in the past 4 years
Eason and Hurtz in 2016
Had Tua and Frohm in 2017.
2019 had Bo Nix.

Why do we go through this every off-season?? How many times does it need to happen for us to see a Freshman QB can have a huge impact?
I’m not talking about freshmen in general. I’m specifically referring to guys who didn’t go through spring practice before their freshman year. Every one of those guys you mentioned enrolled early and went through spring practice.
 
#21
#21
They were good but not great. They will be mid round picks.

The guys coming in could be better. That is one of the teams biggest question marks. They should be much more explosive and faster this year.

Depending on playcalling and execution they may be better for the qb this year whoever it is.

Because in the best passing game of JG's career, the receivers' abilities to catch his passes had nothing to do with it being his best passing game?

 
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#22
#22
Because in the best passing game of JG's career, the receivers' abilities to catch his passes had nothing to do with it being his best passing game?


They made great catches. They saved him plenty.

They also dropped passes that lead to interceptions and struggled to get open. They had one of the highest drop rates the last few years I'm the SEC.

Having guys with more explosion and speed isn't a bad thing. We will have to see if they are as good or better.

They were ok, not great. It's not like we are replacing three first rounders like Bama. It's a good chance our young guys are just as good or better.
 
#24
#24
That's pure speculation that our young guys are going to be as good or better at going up and fighting for those lofted balls that JG tends to throw.
Good or better overall. Yes. Based on ratings and potential they could be as good or better than a couple of mid to late round picks.

Maybe he won't have to loft them up with so much air if he knows the wrs aren't running in molasses
 
#25
#25
They were good but not great. They will be mid round picks.

The guys coming in could be better. That is one of the teams biggest question marks. They should be much more explosive and faster this year.

Depending on playcalling and execution they may be better for the qb this year whoever it is.

One could easily make the argument they weren’t really good or great because of the guys distributing the football.
I think you might be reaching a little bit now by questioning what many thought was a main strength of our team last season. I don’t think many share the opinion that the wide receiver group let JG down a lot. In fact, I think most see it the other way around. If we’re putting our hopes in a younger, faster group then we need to see some higher levels of manipulating the D, because I don’t think we’ve seen that yet. Those 10 to 25 yard intermediate balls need to be better so that those guys make plays and get some yacs. I don’t think it’s wrong to be skeptical.
 

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