The Tennessee Volunteers are facing another Southeastern Conference dual-threat quarterback this week.
Gulp.
For all that has gone right in the first 17 games of the Josh Heupel era in Knoxville, which includes this year's 4-0 start and No. 8 ranking in the Associated Press poll, defending against opposing quarterbacks who can run and pass has typically resided near or atop the fix-it list. The latest such challenge for the Vols comes in the form of LSU's Jayden Daniels, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior who began his career at Arizona State before transferring to Baton Rouge.
Daniels has completed 89 of 131 passes (67.9%) for 915 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions through the 4-1 start for the No. 25 Tigers, and he leads them with 321 yards on 60 carries for a 5.4-yard clip.
"There are areas that we have to grow that will show up again in this game," Heupel admitted earlier this week. "For us defensively, it's the eyes and the keys. The quarterback run absolutely is a huge part of the game. That can be in the read game but also as the pocket breaks down or he goes through his progression and has the ability to escape.
"The mobility of their quarterback is a huge part of us having to defend that in this game."
Saturday's noon Eastern showdown on ESPN will reveal whether the Vols have improved in that aspect since their last time out, which was the 38-33 outlasting of Florida on Sept. 24. The Vols racked up 576 yards but surrendered 594, with Gators dual-threat quarterback Anthony Richardson throwing for 453 yards and rushing for 62 in totaling four touchdowns.
In Florida's two prior games against Kentucky and South Florida, the 6-4, 232-pound Richardson threw for just 255 combined yards with four interceptions and rushed for 28 yards on 13 combined carries.
"Those guys made some plays, and they're going to make some plays," Vols senior safety Jaylen McCollough said this week. "We gave them a few things off of technique and not keying on the right stuff, and that's why you watch film. We've just got to play together all around as a team this week to accomplish what we're going down there to accomplish."
Tennessee linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary believes there is a definite carryover aspect from the Florida to LSU games in terms of Richardson and Daniels.
"They're very similar, but they're different body types," Jean-Mary said. "Obviously Anthony is a little heavier and in that 230-plus range, while Jayden is a little slighter but runs just as hard and is as elusive. We obviously didn't do as good of a job as we wanted against Anthony, so that's been a big point of emphasis.
"We want to keep the quarterback contained, but Jayden is a super-talented kid."
Daniels, who is from San Bernadino, California, was the highest-rated four-star signee of the 2019 class in the 247Sports.com composite rankings in a year that had 34 five-star prospects. He was inconsistent during a 24-23 opening loss to Florida State in New Orleans on Labor Day weekend and inconsistent in last Saturday night's 21-17 win at Auburn, a game LSU trailed 17-0 in the second quarter.
LSU coach Brian Kelly pulled Daniels from last weekend's contest due to bursitis in his knee, replacing him with Garrett Nussmeier, but Daniels is expected to start against the Vols and continue his maturation process.
"He's just more comfortable with the offense itself," Kelly said. "He was in a totally different offensive structure before. He was in much more of a pro-style offense. This has been a totally different offensive structure for him, and he's just becoming more comfortable with the offense itself.
"He's become more decisive, because he clearly understands the offense much better, and when you're decisive, the ball comes out and you move more efficiently, and that's really what we're seeing. We knew the talent was there. We're just seeing a more decisive quarterback."
In games last season against Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama and Kentucky, the Vols yielded 353 total yards to Emory Jones, 426 to Matt Corral, 413 to Bryce Young and 419 to Will Levis. Richardson hung more yards on Tennessee than any of those a year ago, but now it's on to Daniels and seeing whether the Vols have improved.
"Going into this game, he's the leading rusher for their team," Vols senior edge rusher Byron Young said, "so our No. 1 job is to contain him and make him uncomfortable. We have to contain the pocket and make there be less room for him to run."
Said Jean-Mary: "Obviously with another athletic quarterback, we feel like we have some things in place to try and contain him, but a lot of their plays — just like Richardson — come off broken plays. That's what makes those guys special."
No picks allowed
It's not often in college football that a second Saturday in October presents a matchup of starting quarterbacks who have yet to be intercepted, but such is the case with Daniels and Tennessee counterpart Hendon Hooker.
"It tells you that they're seeing things and operating and being really efficient," Heupel said. "It tells you that they're being accurate with the football and that they have some maturity in having the ability to take care of the football.
"Obviously turnovers in this game will be huge."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.