University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones talks about the 2015 recruitment class on National Signing Day on Feb. 4, 2015, in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee pulled off the rare trick of signing three quarterbacks in one recruiting class in the 2015 cycle.
It was a move the Volunteers simply had to make.
With Justin Worley out of eligibility and Nathan Peterman's decision to transfer to Pittsburgh at the end of the semester, Tennessee was down to one scholarship quarterback in Josh Dobbs, who will be the Vols' undoubted starter going into a season of big expectations next fall.
His backup, though, will be one of the trio of players -- Quinten Dormady and Jauan Jennings enrolled last month and Sheriron Jones signed last week -- Tennessee added in its most recent recruiting class.
"I'm very proud of the three individuals at the quarterback position because not one quarterback asked me about the other individual or who else we were recruiting," Vols coach Butch Jones said at his signing day news conference last week. That's what we want. We want individuals with great competitive character that don't care. All they worry about is themselves.
"They're going to have a tremendous opportunity. We have one quarterback on scholarship. It was a tremendous selling point for these individuals. As we know, you're one snap away at the quarterback position, or any position. They all wanted that opportunity.
"They understand the magnitude and relevance of playing quarterback at the University of Tennessee, and that's what I'm proud of them (for), is they never looked over their shoulder. They knew what they wanted, and they stayed true to form."
Jones joked about the number of questions he received about how the Vols added a trio at a position where two in a class is often too many, and given how rare three-quarterback classes have been in the Southeastern Conference, those questions make sense.
Dating back to 2002, when Rivals.com became one of college football's top recruiting services, there have been just 41 two-quarterback classes in the SEC, with Missouri and Texas A&M adding one apiece in the four classes since their move from the Big 12 Conference became official.
That is 43 out of a possible 176 recruiting classes
Over the same 14-year span, there were only 10 classes with three quarterbacks before Tennessee added three in 2015.
The most recent three-quarterback classes in the SEC came in 2011, when LSU signed Zach Mettenberger, Jerrard Randall and Stephen Rivers. A junior college transfer who began his career at Georgia, Mettenberger was a two-year starter for the Tigers, and Randall (Arizona via junior college) and Rivers (Vanderbilt) transferred after two and three years at LSU.
Tennessee actually signed three quarterbacks -- Tyler Bray, Nash Nance and Matt Simms -- in 2010.
Bray started 24 games in three seasons, Simms was a junior college transfer with two remaining years of eligibility and Nance transferred after the 2012 season.
Transfer rates are high for multiple-quarterback recruiting classes, but the Vols had to go that route given their current roster situation and landed three four-star prospects.
"Some players get scared away by a roster full of some guys," receivers coach Zach Azzanni told reporters before Tennessee's recruiting celebration in Nashville last week. "Quite frankly, those aren't the guys we want. We want guys that want to play with other great players and want to compete to play with great players.
"I think you saw that in this class, especially at the quarterback position. To bring in four quarterbacks, and never once did any of them mention the other guys, they just want to come in and compete. I think that says a lot."
Jennings took impressive strides as a quarterback in the past year , Dormady bounced back from missing his junior season due to injury and Sheriron Jones was good enough that he originally committed to Florida.
Jones and Jennings are more dual-threat options, but Dormady, who's not been cleared to throw since arriving on campus due to a shoulder issue, is mobile as well.
Tennessee's preseason training camp has included a quarterback competition the past two years, and though the one six months away won't be for the starting job, it'll still be one to watch.
"We'll see how they develop, and if one individual out of the three separates themselves, and if they're worthy of being named the No. 2 quarterback, we'll be able to name them the No. 2 quarterback," Butch Jones said.
"I think having Quinten here and having Jauan here will benefit them for spring football. They'll get a ton of repetitions. Sheriron is extremely bright, very, very intelligent, very confident.
"It should make for a great August camp."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.