on maurer...you answered your question when you said "he's reckless with the ball". so is shrout. so is jg.....lol.
that, and Maurer's limited snap count last season really goes back to the head injury...i think if he makes it thru that game healthy, he may have taken the job last season, cause i do agree, he was the one that looked like he had the most potential, and he definitely looked like the one with the least amount of "deere in the headlights" look.....................dude ain't scared.
as for why he's not playing now, i find it best not to speculate....but he has been practicing, the hamstring/leg deal is a nagging thing at this point apparently, not something that's limited him from activity. plus we don't know if those scout team drills are full live, or shells, walk thrus or a combo of all....i'd wager a combo.
i do think it's safe to say that the leg issue was more prevelant in camp, and that, likely, is the reason his reps were limited in pre season, and Shrouts increased....thus, JG and Shrout are 1-2 going in to the season....i think if you go back to August and September, and how camp had to managed, some of these decisions were simply becuase of the math involed, and not just for QB....you can't justifiably give player x the lion's share of the reps, but as soon as player y comes back, player x sits....sends a bad message to the rest of the team....like what's the point of practice if this guy can come back having far fewer reps, but rolls right back in? goes against what pruitt has said about practice in general, from the beginning. you do get to a point where the guys that havne't practiced, can't play.......and we hit that mark with more than a few guys.......
i don't envy the decisions he has to make right now. he's got 3 qb's he really doesn't 100% trust. and everything he knows about football and QB that says JG should be the guy is turning out to be totally contradictory in his case. cause the on field performance has NEVER matched work ethic, IQ, toughness and practice habits.....
maddening.
and now, maurer, bailey and shrout all getting more reps.....as are other guys in different positions.
i expect we'll see several new-ish faces in and out of hte line up, including QB.....
it does suck to watch it play out in front of us, but there was talk all summer long about how this off season would affect the season....and as we saw it play out with as many kids that were held out due to corona/contact tracing......it presented a unique problem for this roster at an important stage of it's development....
i think what happens in the next two weeks, regardless of the Bama game, are absolutely critical in the development of a lot of guys that missed time. and i think the 2nd half of the season is critical to the percepiton of where this program is headed....is it still in the direction we were in during the 8 game streak? or have we settled back in to what TN has been the past 10-12 years?
opportunity is there to move forward. big games still out there. the back half of the schedule last season gets played down by some because of the opponents....the back half this year, has some quality. improving ARK team on the road. Auburn, who is not great, but for perception, Auburn is viewed as being ahead of TN in teh SEC arms race....aTm...and FL to close.
we know what happens if we tank and suck out loud. we have no idea what we're really capable of with this staff and AD if we actually go out and do something of note...
we need to salvage this season as best we can, if not better...lol...while keeping a very sharp eye on 21.
