It came as no huge surprise after he drew rave reviews all week for his performance at the finals of the Elite 11, but the organization that recognizes the top signal callers in the nation each year officially named Tennessee commitment Jarrett Guarantano one of the Elite 11 QBs on Friday night.
Congratulations to the 2015 #Elite11 Quarterbacks! pic.twitter.com/wddbvb2coo
— Elite11 (@Elite11) July 11, 2015
Guarantano made it through multiple rounds of testing to be one of the 18 finalists in Oregon at the Elite 11 finals that were held in conjunction with the finals of The Opening. Ole Miss commitment Shea Patterson was named the MVP, while the rest are simply listed in alphabetical order.
Guarantano would be the fifth Elite 11 (which was founded in 1999) quarterback to play at Tennessee, joining Casey Clausen, Jonathan Crompton, Tyler Bray and Joshua Dobbs.
Tennessee is one of 13 teams nationally that is scheduled to have at least two Elite 11 quarterbacks on its roster in 2016, assuming Dobbs stays for his senior year and Guarantano sticks with his pledge to the Vols – joining Florida State, USC, Ole Miss, Purdue, SMU, California, Washington, Maryland, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Florida.
Dobbs also worked as a collegiate counselor for the first few days of the Elite 11, getting a head start on mentoring Guarantano, which figures to be part of his role in 2016 in Knoxville
“Me and Josh have a very good relationship already,” Guarantano said, via OregonLive.com. “Every time I go to Tennessee, I’m always hanging out with him, always with him. It wasn’t really a big difference, but I’m glad I get to learn from him on the field, instead of just hanging with him off of it. He’s been telling me a little bit about my drops. He’s a great guy and I’m really proud that I’m going to be his teammate.”
