Mother Nature forced Tennessee to hit the indoor facility for Wednesday’s practice. As Saturday’s game with UAB inches closer, all eyes were on the Vols’ quarterback situation once again.
All three scholarship quarterbacks practiced on Wednesday, though Jarrett Guarantano was sporting a rather large glove on his left hand, his non-throwing hand. Guarantano had surgery on Sunday to repair a broken bone that he suffered from the South Carolina game. He participated in practice on Tuesday and was back at it again today.
When working on hand-offs with the running backs, freshman Brian Maurer was the first quarterback through the drills. J.T. Shrout was second, while Guarantano went third. The rotation was more of a scramble when the quarterbacks began to work with the wide receivers. Two quarterbacks went at a time, but Guarantano and Shrout were the first ones to throw.
Maurer didn’t have his best day throwing the football. He skipped a couple of throws and also over-shot some targets. Guarantano and Shrout looked liked their normal selves, completing nearly every pass.
Jauan Jennings threw some passes during Tuesday’s practices, but he did not during Wednesday’s open portion. Jennings was very complimentary of a couple of throws from Guarantano.
The running back rotation consisted of Ty Chandler, Tim Jordan, and Eric Gray.
I didn’t see much of the defense because I was focused on the quarterbacks, but of what I did see, Quavaris Crouch was working with the outside linebackers for the second consecutive day. Crouch has spent time at inside linebacker the last few weeks and has played some in games there as well. Darrell Taylor was sporting a larger knee brace following his injury against the Gamecocks on Saturday. Pruitt said earlier this week that Taylor is “day-to-day,” but he may have more of an update when he speaks to the media after practice today.
At inside linebacker, Aaron Beasley and Solon Page were the second team backers. J.J. Peterson was the only scholarship linebacker to work on the the third team.
Today’s practice marked the final open portion of practice before Saturday’s game against UAB. The Vols and Blazers will kick-off at 7:00 PM Eastern in Neyland Stadium.
