Why I think (hope?) it's going to be Bailey

[butchna]

Are you really comparing the current QBs at UT with Jalen Hurts and the other guys that are on an NFL team. I thought you understood football better than that. Everyone of the guys in the UT QB stable have been mediocre at best in their college careers. If none of them can step out above this pack, we don't have a top end QB on campus.

I hope Heupel can develop one. Apparently, he thinks it's the guy from Michigan b/c he went out and actively pursued him b/c apparently, he wasn't completely sold on any of the guys currently on the roster. If any of these guys are the ONE. They should distance themselves from the pack very quickly this fall .

There’s a lot of UNKNOWN and if we’re playing the “what if “ game, we also need to compare the coaching and handling…since you brought up Heup. Jalen Hurts comes in as a true freshman without an offseason and instead of Kiffin his influences are Weinke and Pruitt? How great would that have been. As was, you got one notable player out of that 5 star stew. We have four players with P5 starting experience and an experienced QB guru has barely had any contact with them. I’ll wait to jump. Let me go football learn in the meantime.

 

[ClockworkOrange]

Hahaha
The same thought crossed my mind when reading his post. Of course with BM in the mix there is plausible deniability..

My all-time favorite QB at UT is T-Rob, as I've stated on this site a number of times. Followed closely by Tee and Condredge (a boyhood hero from my hometown). Hmmm...doesn't quite fit the narrative, huh?

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Most freshmen who do generally have a traditional offseason and get playing time early if not outright starting. Throwing a guy into a midseason game late and expecting immediate fireworks seems misguided thinking in liquid form.

Especially given the coaching situation. I was pretty encouraged by HB’s command of the offense pre-snap and his ability to get everyone lined up. I feel like Whatever he was thrown into last season wasn’t a true glimpse of what he can do, for a lot of the reasons you listed.

 

[butchna]

Especially given the coaching situation. I was pretty encouraged by HB’s command of the offense pre-snap and his ability to get everyone lined up. I feel like Whatever he was thrown into last season wasn’t a true glimpse of what he can do, for a lot of the reasons you listed.

Kept everything in front of him and didn’t panic. He didn’t process a bad offensive scheme quickly on the field basically thrown in cold without an offseason. And the aforementioned quick hook based on whatever Cornbread ate and processed the night before. Lot of narrative built on a lot of dirty wind imo.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Kept everything in front of him and didn’t panic. He didn’t process a bad offensive scheme quickly on the field basically thrown in cold without an offseason. And the aforementioned quick hook based on whatever Cornbread ate and processed the night before. Lot of narrative built on a lot of dirty wind imo.

I’m very confident that all the QBs will have the best coaching that’s taken place in Knoxville since 2009. These guys may just not have it long term, but I believe Heupel at worst will have success getting a lot out of his QB room.

 

[butchna]

I’m very confident that all the QBs will have the best coaching that’s taken place in Knoxville since 2009. These guys may just not have it long term, but I believe Heupel at worst will have success getting a lot out of his QB room.

Agreed and the real skinny on each candidate will get a proper process…instead of narrative driven coachspeak.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

My all-time favorite QB at UT is T-Rob, as I've stated on this site a number of times. Followed closely by Tee and Condredge (a boyhood hero from my hometown). Hmmm...doesn't quite fit the narrative, huh?

Thus my BM sentence..

 

[sjt18]

I agree with the first paragraph. People get tunnel vision when it comes to ratings. I see it like this, we were not even through spring ball and the new staff brought in a new QB. One of the reasons “ according to TB” is because the staff didn’t think they have a QB that can compete on Saturdays. They brought Milton in to be there guy. So if he comes in and does what he’s supposed to it’s his job to lose. Plain and simple.

I think it is true that they did not feel they had a guy who claimed the job. I don't agree that Milton is anything more than another guy competing in the room. Like I've said several times, he has by far the highest ceiling so he's the guy I'd like to see win it from that perspective. BUT... watch his games at Michigan last year. NOTHING he did says he was brought in to start automatically. He was wildly inconsistent both with decision making and accuracy. He is a run threat from the designed point of view but he isn't terribly quick- he doesn't have "escapability" like Dobbs and others.

I am excited about the prospect of Heupel being able to get him consistent then putting him into an O where he can flourish. That is tempered by watching his play AND the reality that a true Soph with significantly less physical talent beat him out at Michigan.

 

[sjt18]

Not sure why so many people are so sold on Bailey. He hasn't done anything to garner that much support other than be highly touted coming out of high school. Maurer's play in the past reminds me of what Fulmer used to say about James Banks when he was a QB: "the band's gonna be playing, you just hope it's your's." The two transfers have the most upside and experience in games that mattered but they transferred for a reason, so.....

If you have 4 QBs still in the running, you really don't have a great one.

Non sequitur. It could easily mean you have 4 bad choices... 4 good choices... or 4 potentially great choices. And if you believe that honest competition in ALL areas of human activity brings out the best in people... the Vols sit in a pretty good place considering the amount of physical talent in that room.

I became a Vol fan because Heath Shuler signed with UT years ago. We went to the same church and HS. My dad coached him in Little League baseball. It was a small town so our families were friends. Since then... I've been as rabid as I am now through thick and thin. In all that time, UT has not had even close to this much raw talent in the QB room at the same time. Shuler, Kelly, and Colquitt may be the closest to it in all that time. No one has established themselves. They're all still fighting. That is far from demonstrating that UT doesn't have a great QB or maybe more than one in the making.

 

[TNnative]

He's the only one who doesn't make me nervous as a cat when he drops back to pass.

I know this is not exactly a scientific analysis. And I can only watch film on Milton and Hooker. But all three of the other guys have some troublesome tendencies, and for every "wow" throw, it seems like they are wildly inaccurate on three or four others. Also Hooker and Maurer try to stick the ball into some extremely tight windows with double and triple coverage. Sometimes it works out...other times, yikes.

I love that the other three QBs can run, but Bailey is no "octopus falling out of a tree" (as someone said about Clausen). He seems to feel pressure pretty well and knows when to step up or take off. I just don't know if having wheels or better escapability will be enough to offset that "uh oh" feeling I get with the other guys.

I watched every snap of Milton's game against Michigan State last night, and while he had pretty decent numbers (32 of 51, 300 yds., 62.7%), he routinely threw lasers at close targets or waaaay under the chains on possession downs, leading to lots of punts (sounds kinda familiar) and a loss. He didn't throw any INTs, but he dang near collapsed an opposing lineman's spleen with one of his bullets and had several other near INTs as well. He also had 0 TDs in that game and his average per completion was only 5.9 yds.

Don't get me wrong. I'm hoping against hope that Heupel can work his magic. I'd love to see a guy as big and powerful as Milton back there terrorizing opposing DCs. But maybe I'm just worn out on feeling my heart in my throat with every snap (like the last several years) and just want somebody who can reliably move the chains for a change.

My only hope is all of them are better than Guarantano. And less apt at getting themselves beaten to death like he was. I was not on him as much as others were, but if any of these guys throw an int? I expect them not to run away from him, or give up on pursuit. That was unforgivable.

 

[sjt18]

My only hope is all of them are better than Guarantano. And less apt at getting themselves beaten to death like he was. I was not on him as much as others were, but if any of these guys throw an int? I expect them not to run away from him, or give up on pursuit. That was unforgivable.

At this point... I'd be OK with getting beat but taking some chances that might have won it for you.

The common, and accurate, accusation toward Fulmer was that too often he played not to lose. He avoided risks so fanatically that lack of risk became a HUGE risk. Pruitt was chosen because he agreed with Fulmer on virtually everything football related including style and philosophy of play.

 

[miket4god]

In fairness to HB, he was a freshman playing for a coach that benched QBs for throwing pics, so his unwillingness to take chances may have been justified. One might say he was coachable!

Then why did he keep trotting JG out there?

 

[sjt18]

Then why did he keep trotting JG out there?

Because according to Pruitt... he "earned it" in practice. It was insane. I wonder if there is any other coach in CFB that would continue to trot a guy out there who continuously proved he couldn't perform when the lights came on because he was a practice All American?

 

[miket4god]

Because according to Pruitt... he "earned it" in practice. It was insane. I wonder if there is any other coach in CFB that would continue to trot a guy out there who continuously proved he couldn't perform when the lights came on because he was a practice All American?

I get it. My point was that the other QB's weren't benched for throwing picks they were benched because they were not JG. Cause JG threw the most picks and kept getting trotted out time after time.

 

[sjt18]

I get it. My point was that the other QB's weren't benched for throwing picks they were benched because they were not JG. Cause JG threw the most picks and kept getting trotted out time after time.

Pruitt had a death wish. He kept taking poison believing it would cure him.

 

[DERELICK_MY_VOLS]

I love Bailey’s upside. He could put up insane passing numbers in this offense and has the most upside as a natural passer.

Hooker has a strong arm. He has fast feet and can power ahead for first downs. He has the most live game experience out of all our QBs as a starter. In the O&W game there were some wide open holes where he’d bust a 15-25yd run vs throwing it..he held back from doing so for whatever reason. From the games I saw him play at VaTech he seems to get hot and comfortable when he gets that run/pass rhythm going. It starts to make the D second guess what they are doing…in turn it makes him appear to be more comfortable to let his arm rip. I always thought the same of Dobbs too. He was at his best when he’d gash defenses with his feet to open up his passing.

 

[TNnative]

Hooker doesn't make me nervous; he was pretty good at VT; but I think Bailey is the better QB.

I love Maurer, but I do agree ... watching him play can be stressful. He takes off way too much and tries to force things too often. He's been here 3 years now, though, so hopefully he's learned how to reign it in some.

I'm still very skeptical of the great Milton experiment. He wasn't accurate in high school and he wasn't accurate in Michigan. I don't think he's suddenly going to become accurate.

Well Tennessee's receivers did not always run accurate routes either from what I saw. If that trend continues, and Milton's throws are still not accurate? If the fans exhale at the same right moment, it just might cause Milton's inaccurate pass to land in the off route receiver's hands. And if sound can affect the delivery, a well placed woo might do the trick also. Get it together folks. You may be needed.

 

[VAVol85]

Then why did he keep trotting JG out there?

Maybe should say “benched QBs not named JG for throwing picks”?

 

[GetEmVols]

That's purely subjective though. I actually disagree. Hooker doesn't act nervous. Neither Milton or Maurer have HB's patience which can be either a good or bad thing depending on the situation.

Supposedly what we saw from HB in the O&W game was not consistent with his performance over the spring- in a good way. Hooker had a solid outing with one mistake... but he was the only one of the three that played all of his reps with the "White" team. For most of the game, the White team was the 1's against the 1's. When considering only plays with the "White" O, Hooker had the best day. Maurer had the second most yards. HB had the least. Most of his yardage and "wow" plays came with and against guys who will be on the scout team this fall.

Also, we just watched a guy flounder for 5 years in part because he was unwilling and/or unable to throw into tight windows. You don't beat good teams without being able to do that. It does heighten risks. It does take time to get good at it.

I think anyone who thinks they know who the starter will be is way ahead of the facts. They will likely come out of the summer with an "order" of some kind but all 4 guys will get a chance to win the job next month. If I were betting, I would place even money on Hooker/HB. If either of the other two can become consistent and eliminate the mental mistakes then they will likely pass those two because they have better arms and feet.

As a Vol fan, I hope Heupel can fix Milton. By far he has the most physical upside and arm.

Hooker threw an interception so it’s obvious no one can trust him. He didn’t give me a reason to trust him. Heck I would take Maurer over him at this point. I’m curious to see Joe Milton.

 

[sjt18]

Hooker threw an interception so it’s obvious no one can trust him. He didn’t give me a reason to trust him. Heck I would take Maurer over him at this point. I’m curious to see Joe Milton.

So you don't trust Hooker for throwing an INT... but do trust the others in spite of them having also thrown INT's?

I have to admit that Milton's pure physical gifts have me curious. But I'm excited just to see who emerges.

 

[1vol8]

I think it’s just this simple. UT has 4 different options that are all better than we’ve seen in recent past. Whoever emerges as the top of those 4 is no knock on the others in a room this talented. There’s not much drop off from one to the next. In fact it’s arguable that you gain in one area or another and very few sports teams period can say that. How many teams can go to its #2 or 3 and it’s offense be equally as dangerous as #1? Not many. So let’s just see what happens and be happy with with whoever it is. Because at the end of the day, it’s light years better than we’ve had.