KNOXVILLE – Tennessee opened spring practices Tuesday.
The Vols have a lot of competition at the quarterback position entering Jeremy Pruitt’s third season as Tennessee’s head coach.
Returning signal-callers include redshirt senior Jarrett Guarantano, redshirt sophomore J.T. Shrout and sophomore Brian Maurer.
Pruitt discussed the unit following Tennessee’s first spring practice.
“If you look over the last half of the year, Jarrett did a lot of really good things to help us win football games,” Pruitt said. “J.T. did some things in the South Carolina game and in the UAB game that helped us win. Brian showed some promise at times. All of these guys are going to continue to improve. We have good competition there. Jarrett is a guy that has played a lot of ball.
“When you look at all three of those guys, there are a lot of positives that they do. We have to eliminate a few mistakes that we made last year. With another year in the system, that is something that we are working on.”
Freshman early enrollees Harrison Bailey and Jimmy Holiday also enter Tennessee’s quarterback competition in 2020. They are joined by Maryland transfer Kasim Hill who did not play last season due to NCAA transfer rules.
“We have a couple other quarterbacks in that room,” Pruitt said. “Harrison Bailey, Jimmy Holiday, Kasim Hill, they are taking the same amount of reps too. We have to figure out who our first, second and third quarterback is. They will have a chance to do that throughout the spring. That’s for every position.
“In this business, you’re only as good as your last game, whether you are a coach or a player. There always needs to be competition so everyone will be at their best.”