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Selecting a starting quarterback can be one of the most tedious processes in sports. The position is so crucial that coaches must carefully and precisely evaluate every snap of every practice.
They watch practice. They watch the videotape. Then, they watch more videotape.
Based on the Tennessee's latest video evidence, junior college transfer Matt Simms and freshman Tyler Bray will get more practice work with the first team, and fifth-year senior Nick Stephens will get less. The change confirms coach Derek Dooley's post-scrimmage assessment last Thursday: Stephens didn't have a great day.
Never mind how the snaps are parceled out after the first scrimmage. Or how closely the coaches follow every step of their quarterbacks. Who wins the competition might not matter.
This doesn't look like one of those years in which you select a quarterback, hand him the football and wing your way through a 12-game regular-season schedule without a second thought. This could be more like 2004 when UT needed three different quarterbacks - a starter, a middleman and a closer - to reach the SEC championship game.
Like most coaches, Dooley would prefer to select a quarterback and stick with him over the breadth of the season. But he doesn't seem as adamant about it as his predecessor, Lane Kiffin. In fact, Dooley has used two quarterbacks before. He might not have a choice this time.
That's not an indictment of the current quarterbacks. Instead, it reflects extenuating circumstances like an all-new offensive line, which will be the least experienced in the SEC, and a challenging schedule, whose degree of difficulty will be exacerbated by confrontations with a series of imposing pass rushers.
Oregon junior defensive end Kenny Rowe led the Pac-10 in sacks last season, and - unlike so many of his teammates - has further distinguished himself by making it through the first quarter of 2010 without being arrested. In the SEC, Georgia's Justin Houston, South Carolina's Cliff Matthews and Alabama's Marcell Dareus are among the noted pass rushers UT's quarterbacks will try to avoid.
Against those pass rushers and with an offensive line that has so little experience, UT might be better served with an Olympic sprinter, rather than a young Peyton Manning, at quarterback. Yet the candidates are all traditional drop-back passers (i.e., stationary targets).
That's another reason not to forget about Gerald Jones, who has been an effective runner in spot duty as a shotgun quarterback. You could argue that it won't be any easier to run than throw behind UT's fledgling line. But it's harder to hit a moving target.
Dooley said Tuesday he hasn't gotten around to installing his version of a Wildcat package, which has become a part of almost every coach's offensive repertoire. He said he might implement it the last week of spring practice and even has a player in mind, though he wouldn't say whom.
As for the No. 1 conventional quarterback, that's a guessing game, too. My best guess is it won't be the same one in the first game as the last.
And I wouldn't rule out Stephens after one bad scrimmage. He's 6-foot-4 and appears to weigh more than his listed 227 pounds.
He looks like he can take a hit.
John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.
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Comments » 36
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
Don't name one even if there is a winner till the week before the game. That way all QBs keep fighting for the start.
SummittsCourt writes:
I have a sense that the QB's main responsibility will be to hand the ball off to the right running back.
VOLinAthensGA writes:
It would be disappointing if Stephens didn't get his shot. However, I am sure the coaches are going to do what is best. Chaney's track record speaks for itself.
joshvols writes:
the o-line is going to be better than you think adams. especially if they keep listening to people like you downgrade them, and play with king-sized chips on their shoulders.
Down_The_Field writes:
did you watch the game with grease head last night or was it you night to rock baby timmy to sleep?
i think i hear him crying again.
joshvols writes:
please, go somewhere that you are wanted. or have you already run out of those kind of places?
KJVol writes:
...and yet another gator fan demonstrates that he has no life, except to hang around guys that have absolutely no respect for him. DC, you might want to worry about your own coach's future, seems like he has enough mental problems for the whole league.
MidTennVol writes:
Much ado about nothing, as I see it. I still think Nick's the guy to beat. He's got SEC game-scar tissue and he's a gunslinger. Not afraid to run. I see a fiery competitor when I look at him. He's not gonna let anybody beat him out his senior year.
NoSirRee writes:
Why does everyone jump on DC and others for posting. Some of his comments are right on point and hilarious IMO. Of course he's overzealous and wearing orange and blue goggles, he's a gater fan. He gets more responses than anyone so you're giving him what he wants anyway. Plus, its just a little trash talk, lighten up.
worldwideturd writes:
Why don't you and DC go pull each other's finger?
NoSirRee writes:
With a name like worldwideturd that "joke" seems like the exact kind of humor you would enjoy...
volsoutlaw writes:
Why slam him? That makes no sense at all, I laughed when I read that article on Meyer. It made me think this new guy is not as hot as they say and they need a back up plan already, when the news was a few ago he was looking so awesome. I wonder, did Meyer do this in a way because he was still upset about the article saying the "new" kid was a better throwing QB than Tebow? Did he in his mad mind convince himself no one is ever going to be better than Tebow, and I have to prove it by running a two QB system?
orangeinbama writes:
Good lord..quit feeding the trolls....
CoverOrange writes:
Funny, I didn't see that quote where Coach Dooley said he had any such plans. Or maybe you mistook JA's musings for something knowledgeable and factual. Nah.
transplantiam writes:
Hey Volsoutlaw, Meyer is just getting set up for the third and Tebow! His next qb coming up is more like Tebow than Brantley, so he's just going to set up where he can install a play for 3rd and short for his next qb. That way when Brantley leaves he can go back to the "Tebow way"
GO VOLS!!
steamboatticket#484773 writes:
Without predicting who will start, I also doubt that Stephens will lose it over one bad scrimmage. Simms also had a lousy day, but they're both players and competitors. Could it be that Simms was so well coached in junior college but Stephens has no clue? Nah. But then, Crompton seemed to have no clue until he was coached by the coaches who coached Stpehens last year! OMG
vut56#231073 writes:
Let me sum this up: Don't know who the quarterback will be; might not make a difference; might use Jones...or someone else; might yet be Stephens..or not; Stephens can take a lick. Our OL could be quality impaired.
And, I got up early and shaved my legs for this?
CadmiumOchre (Inactive) writes:
Commenting on Meyer's two quarterback use, you silly goose. slamming would be severe criticism of the choice. On top of that it is Meyer's team so he can do whatever he darn well please with it. Same goes for Dooley. Try getting off your high horse without falling into its wreck tum (phonetics intended).
gillblog writes:
"whose degree of difficulty will be exacerbated..." ???
Let' see, Exacerbate means to increase the severity, bitterness, or violence of (disease, ill feeling, etc.); aggravate.
And, "degree of difficulty" is supposed to be a real number reflecting the quantitative measure of something difficult to do.
JA, are you saying that the severity or bitterness or violence of a real number will be increased?
Please, let's try to improve our writing skills.
CoverOrange writes:
Makes you wonder how it got to be the editor, doesn't it?
pj_ladyvolnMI writes:
It would help to read each word...NONE of which say anything about Dooley saying he was using multiple QBs. Adams is simply throwing out random ideas of his own...and he's not the coach.
OrangePride writes:
Again........too much hubbub over not very much. It's tooooooooooo early to name front runners and what if's. This competition is going to go all spring and summer and there will be days when it looks like one quarterback and then a week later that fades and looks like a different quarterback. Bottom line......once Dooley decides on his offensive packages, the quarterback question will begin to clear up and we will have a starter. But don't be surprised if the guy starting game 1 is not guy starting game 3 or 4. I just want someone who can fit the system and produce solid offensive football. GO VOLS! Can't wait to see you in the O/W game!
tulelakevol writes:
yawn.....
tnsportsman writes:
Adam why doesn't Tennessee just forfeit all the games until we get an O Line with experience!!!
The O Line is coming on strong with the young players, just like any other college team that has players graduate, leave etc.
Build for the future, not the present! IMO it will be Simms, Bray, Stephens in that order.
BIG ORANGE 2010 8 plus wins, BOOK IT!
GO VOLS!
gillblog writes:
JA is the EDITOR???!!
(I'm still waiting for someone to invent a font style for sarcasm. My overuse of "?" and "!" is pretty disappointing.)
CoverOrange writes:
Sports Editor. Does that give him an excuse? It's just sports. Nothing important. Just half the reason that people buy the KNS.
Mea culpa. I typed "it" in my first post. I didn't mean to call JA an "it." Guess I need to edit my own pot before calling out the kettle. But it was just a sports post.
punkin writes:
With lil' Timmy gone this year, you really don't know what the Gators will be running except their mouths.
volgrog#210164 writes:
I have to agree with Adams for once. I don't have a lot of confidence that TN will be very good this year. I don't have a lot of confidence in their O-line, and the schedule is brutal. For all the talk of the kitten, I don't think he did TN any favors either in recruiting or in coaching. The best thing he did for the program was leave but it's going to take a few years to fix the problems.
I hope I'm wrong about the upcoming season.
volky writes:
Sorry, but you ain't no George Plaster. I like your confidence though. More reasonably, I believe Tennessee will win 5 or 6 games.
Lizardgrad89 writes:
For those who deny UT will play 2 QB's this year, I must point to the bottom of the article where Dooley states he will implement the Wildcat the last week of spring ball. While the player running the wildcat may not be listed as a QB, if he's taking snaps from center, he's PLAYING QB.
The only real difference between the UT QB strategy and the UF QB strategy is that UF likes to run the wildcat with a backup QB, and UT, well, Dooley hasn't said who will be running the wildcat, but I assume it won't be a backup QB. However, if it is, then there won't be any difference in strategy.
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
hehe, that pic of donovan looks like he's ready for Dumbow. But I thought timmy did the 'cisions?
OrangePsyched writes:
I believe that Stephens will have to be head and shoulders above the other two to start. As has been said CDD won't want to start over next year. My guess is Simms. Our offensive line is young but talented. I believe also that with our talent at wide receiver there will be some quick hitches hoping that the receiver can break tackles for longer gains. We will win 8 next year and contend for SEC title in 2011. Always the optimist GBO!
jbc writes:
Maybe they are just preparing for the reasonable possibility the starting QB may get knocked out of a few games with our OL.
tnsportsman writes:
LOL, I listen to Plas every day on 104.5 The Zone! When George says Book It that's a lost. When I say BOOK IT I will take all bets and win!
BIG ORANGE 8 or more wins BOOK IT!
GO VOLS!
Colliervol writes:
Wasn't there an article last week that was entitled "Gator Players Have Urban's Back"?
I'm not going to touch that one.
Mule_Days_King writes:
Just don't say your prediction is a "Gift to the People". Guaranteed disasater.
Plaster is a moron 75% of the time. I only listen to him because the AM560 signal is weak. Can only pick it up in the car.
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