Vol nation was very vocal on the Nashville airwaves about their love of Stewart and some even then would spout off about how Manning only got the job because Fulmer and Archie were buds, etc. It would have been a Gruden thread on here back in the day! I remember talking my best Vol buddy off the ledge. He thought Brandon Stewart was heads and shoulders better than Peyton Manning mostly because of the eye test. Stewart was athletic and built, as someone said, like Shuler who was a fan favorite because he could run or pass and was pretty effective at both. Manning looked like a stork when he ran. But in that Mississippi State game he made a throw across the field for maybe a 10 or 15 yard gain, but he threw it 40 yards with some zip on it. Ball got there before the DB could. It was an NFL throw that the average college QB couldn't make. That eye test was an eye opener for many Vol fans.
The other thing I remember is Stewart's Mom getting into the debate a little, which is always a bad idea. Ask Jalen Hurd's Mom and step Dad. A year or two later, SI had an article on A&M and Brandon Stewart said something along the lines that knew he was the 2nd string qb at Tennessee after a few practices that freshman year. Fulmer alludes to Manning's progression in The Book of Manning as 'very, very fast'. That first snap at the UCLA game was like 2 weeks after they had put pads on. All this to say, that even the GOAT had to go through a process to be and effective and efficient QB in the SEC. Having a spring practice under his belt will certainly help HB, but he's still a freshman and has to develop as he goes.
