KNOXVILLE – Monday afternoon, Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt wasn’t tipping his hand as to what he was going to do at the quarterback position going into Saturday night’s game against third-ranked Georgia.
Junior Jarrett Guarantano has been the starter at the position since midway through the 2017 season but has struggled this year with turnovers, accuracy and miscommunication between him and his receivers. That led to a second-half benching against 10th-ranked Florida on Sept. 21 in favor of freshman Brian Maurer, although Guarantano did return to the game at the end of the third quarter.
“We’re not going to give Georgia a scout report of what we’re going to do this week, so we’re going to rep the guys that give us the best opportunities to have success,” Pruitt said Monday.
Guarantano has thrown for 736 yards and seven touchdowns this season, but his four interceptions in 93 attempts is already one more than he threw in 246 passes in 2018. He’s also lost a fumble along the way. Behind him eagerly sits Maurer, who after leading the Volunteers to a field goal on the first drive of the third quarter was ineffective, completing only one of his final seven passes against the Gators.
There’s also redshirt freshman J.T. Shrout, who has played only against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, going 3-for-9 for 23 yards.