(I apologize a bit. This post rambles a bit, but I am not rewriting it.)
If they were that good in practice, I think he would play them. I don't believe Pruitt is ever going to put the 2nd best option in as QB unless the best QB is injured. A lot of people (I catch myself doing it) overcomplicate what they see happening.
The JG saga plays like a conspiracy theory in the forums. CJP is not going to start JG if he is not the best on the team. I have never read a credible report of the players disagreeing that JG should start. UT players let too much hang out online. If it was true there would be rumblings from the Sports Coplex. No one around this part of the internet knows anything the coaches don't know. I clench my jaw often watching JG play. Not all problems are his fault, but he seems to miss a lot of the action before and during the play. He is both efficient and deficient.
BUT it is the biggest failing of Coach Pruitt that has not brought a man onto the team that could beat JG for that starting QB position. I know they have tried. I see it like this. Butch Jones sold Josh Dobbs on the Vols. Best thing he ever did as head coach. I see Henry T as the QB of the defense. Maybe Pruitt's biggest recruiting accomplishment so far. There is no Henry T on the offense. Outside of the OLine, the players on the offense are not elite. Or maybe elite enough.
We started a complete tier below UGA, UF, BAMA, and LSU when CJP arrived. Now we are there on defense IMO. The offense is still 2nd tier at the skill positions. Thus we are still a 2nd tier team. LSU has fallen this season. UF has an elite offense and 2nd tier defense this season and we have a shot at them. UGA and BAMA are still out of reach, for the most part. I think we can beat BAMA, on our best day. I think we are close to UF, if the staff ever has the team ready for that game. We can pass them with a couple of wins and make it some kind of rivalry again.
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I remember Jalen Hurts played us as a freshman. That BAMA team was stacked and he was the vulnerability as a freshman starting in the SEC. His freshman game against us, he was practically flawless. He was barely a legal adult and was in command of the game. He came to Neyland and managed the dismantling of a fading, but still talented Tennessee team.
Pruitt has not found that QB. The one good enough to get it done and keep the team rolling. The one who doesn't beat himself. The man that stands over the other team at the end of the game. When Pruitt gets that guy on the field, we will owe him a lot more money.
Is Harrison Bailey that player? No, or he would be starting Saturday. I don't care if it is because of lack of practice or quarantine. It does not matter. In October, 2020, he is not only not near the level of elite, he is not the best QB on the team that seems to have such limited QB options. So, he is still raw. This leads to Chris Weinke. He is a good coach, or would have been fired by now. But he is not good enough. The QB development has been pathetic. No advancement is failure and our QBs, outside of Bray and Dobbs, never seem to grow as they should this decade, but specifically under this coaching staff.
Chris Weinke get it done or get lost.
As an aside, I have the same criticism of the RBs. We have two nice slash runners, but neither is going to take control of the game. Travis Stephens, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Hardesty, Foster; those guys could take control of a game and physicall wear down a defense. I know they don't succeed without a line, but we have the line. We just lack a punishing runner. Add that to an elite QB and we will be a contender.
