KNOXVILLE - Quinten Dormady may have secured his status as Tennessee's backup quarterback this preseason.
The freshman has no intentions of adjusting his plan of being ready to play at a moment's notice, though.
The competition to back up starter Josh Dobbs never materialized as Dormady ran away with it during spring practice and locked it up during training camp this month, but the sharp newcomer from Texas knows he has to continue preparing the same way he has since arriving on campus in January.
After all, he's a loose strap on Dobbs' helmet (or worse) from the Vols needing him.
"That's what I'm here to do," Dormady said last week. "I'm here to be ready for whenever I do get my chance, so that's how I'm approaching every day. I'm just here to compete. That's just how I'm approaching every day. It's obviously fun to be out there with the guys and that kind of thing as my relationship keeps growing, so it's been good."
The Vols were excited about Dormady's future after the spring practice he put together after enrolling early, and he's done little to change that in August. He's become more comfortable with the offense and demonstrated a talented arm that already has him able to make any throw on the field in addition to a running ability Dormady joked was "underestimated" by even his own teammates.
"I think that he came in the spring and he had a little bit of knowledge of the system," new offensive coordinator Mike DeBord said, "but you never know until you start getting coached about all the little details and everything.
"He's smart, and he's picked up a lot of things. He worked hard this summer, and he's had a really good training camp. I think he would tell you, too, that Josh Dobbs' leadership has helped him through that process, and that's been a part of it."
Given their recent rash of quarterback injuries, the Vols might be wise to give Dormady an early taste of experience, but it seems unlikely coaches would take Dobbs off the field to give Dormady an early series in one of the first few games.
DeBord said he's done something like that at previous coaching stops, though.
"It all depends, I think, on the situation," he said. "I think every situation is totally different. That's something we'll talk about as we start getting into games and stuff like that. We'll start talking about exactly what we're going to do, and who we're going to use where and all that stuff. We haven't gotten there yet."
In an ideal situation, Tennessee would build enough of a lead in the opener against Bowling Green to allow Dormady to make his debut in a relatively harmless situation. The Western Carolina game two weeks later could offer a similar scenario.
The past couple of years, the Vols have inserted their backup quarterback late in games to hand off and run the clock out. Early experience would be more beneficial to Dormady.
DeBord suggested the offense wouldn't undergo wholesale changes if Dormady is in the game instead of Dobbs.
"There's differences with them, and sure, anytime you have differences at any position, you have to make some little changes here and there," he said.
"That's one thing that when we start putting game plans together with Josh, his game plan would be a little bit different than, say, what Quinten might do. I've been part of that for a long time, and that's just part of it."
Dormady's confidence has grown as he becomes more comfortable in the playbook and with the players around him, who have started to trust him.
He believes he's ready to handle the pressure of being Tennessee's quarterback.
He just doesn't know when he'll get that chance.
"I think you have to (relish it)," he said. "It's kind of built into the whole situation, I guess. Having 40,000 people at a practice is pretty cool, and then obviously playing in the spring game, there was a ton of people there, too. I think you just have to embrace it, and that adds to the effect."
Vols land top 2017 QB
Dormady will be entering his junior season when Tennessee's newest commitment shows up on campus.
On Sunday afternoon, the Vols continued a string of recruiting successes at football's most important position by landing Hunter Johnson, the No. 1-ranked quarterback in the 2017 class, according to both 247sports and Rivals.
The 6-foot-3, 197-pounder from the Indianapolis area picked Tennessee over Notre Dame, N.C. State and others.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.