JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Whether or not he likes to admit it, Jarrett Guarantano thrives on controversy.
There really is no other explanation for anything that happened with the Tennessee quarterback throughout the 2019 season, which will go down as one of the most confusing ones in history for the 6-foot-4, 216-pounder.
He finished his redshirt junior campaign with modest passing stats: a 59% completion rate, 2,158 yards, 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He did so while starting eight games and finishing 12, coming off the bench on five occasions as one of the more vital 12th men in the country.
And as its quarterback thrived under the circumstances, Tennessee did as well. It’s not very often a team can consider a season a success in which it shuffles quarterbacks in and out like a dine-in restaurant during a lunch rush, but the Volunteers (8-5) started four quarterbacks – including one, senior Jauan Jennings, who was a receiver – in the season that ended with Thursday night’s 23-22 win against Indiana in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
In the games in which the Vols stuck with just one quarterback, they went 2-2. In the games multiple quarterbacks played, they were 6-3.