Brian Maurer, QB
In an ideal world, Jarrett Guarantano will remain healthy in 2019, and Tennessee’s backup quarterbacks won’t see the field much at all this season. If that happens, Brian Maurer should be able to just ride the bench his entire freshman year.
Maurer and redshirt freshman JT Shrout have been battling for the main backup role behind Guarantano since the spring, but neither has still been able to separate themselves from the other. It’s believed that Shrout will get the first shot on the field in a blowout or if Guarantano has to come out of the game, but that remains to be seen.
The true freshman out of Florida has a lot of potential and has the arm talent and moxy to eventually unseat Shrout as the main backup if he continues to progress during the season. But ideally, Maurer will be able to redshirt in 2019 and go into 2020 as a second-year freshman.
