The biggest mystery surrounding the Vols ever since the end of the 2016 season has been who will be the starting quarterback for the 2017 squad. But according to one offensive skill player, the team already knows.
Junior running back John Kelly spoke to the media on Friday, and he was asked about the Vols’ ongoing quarterback battle. And he claimed Tennessee’s players already know who will be the first quarterback on the field when the Vols take on Georgia Tech on September 4th.
“I mean, we know who’s going to be the starting quarterback,” Kelly told reporters on Friday. “But it’s going to be a good one.”
Kelly wouldn’t specify which quarterback is the starter, only that he and the rest of the team already knows.
Head coach Butch Jones and the rest of the coaching staff have been fairly non-committal as it pertains to Tennessee’s quarterback battle. Jones and quarterbacks coach Mike Canales have even left open the possibility of having both Quinten Dormady and Jarrett Guarantano taking snaps in the Vols’ season opener. But Kelly’s comments seem to suggest that there’s at least already been a decision made behind the scenes about who will trot out first with Tennessee’s starting offense.
Dormady has long been touted as the favorite to land the Vols’ starting quarterback job, but Guarantano has put pressure on him as fall camp has progressed. Jones nor any of the Vols’ offensive coaches have led on as to who is in the lead in the battle, but the odds are that Dormady is the quarterback who will take the first snap of Tennessee’s 2017 season.
John Kelly seems to know who Tennessee’s starting quarterback will be. But Vol fans will still have to wait.
