With spring practice right around the corner, the hype machine is naturally going to get going for some young, talented players such as Jarrett Guarantano.
A tweet from quarterback coach/guru George Whitfield Jr. on Sunday evening might have kicked that up a level or two.
After working with Guarantano and a group of other college quarterbacks over the past week while they were on spring break, Whitfield had some extremely high praise for Tennessee’s redshirt freshman signal caller who is getting ready to compete for the starting job in 2017.
Coolest surprise this wk? #Vols QB Jarrett Guarantano! Possessed a maturity respected by the vets. Arm talent is peerless. Loves his Vols! pic.twitter.com/mszWlOQOTB
— George Whitfield Jr. (@georgewhitfield) March 19, 2017
Whitfield had some some other complimentary things to say for his other quarterbacks via Twitter, but his praise for Guarantano was clearly the highest. And that should mean a lot coming from Whitfield, an ESPN analyst who primarily works with college and pro quarterbacks and has Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel and dozens of other well-known pupils.
But, as Butch Jones will probably mention in the coming days, it’d also probably be wise for Tennessee fans to not get too carried away with the hype. Guarantano has already shown a huge arm and great athleticism in practice as he worked through his redshirt season in 2016. Those aren’t the questions for him.
How accurate can he be under pressure? Does he know the offense as well as Quinten Dormady? Can he manage the offense well enough to be the Day 1 starter? Those will be the things he needs to begin answering this spring and then carry them through the summer. Still, it’s an impressive endorsement, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him come into spring practice with a lot of confidence after his time in California.
