Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano ranks in the middle of the pack when it comes to SEC quarterbacks according to one college football analyst.
247Sports analyst Barton Simmons went through and ranked the SEC quarterbacks following each individual performance during the first week of the 10-game conference-only season. Simmons ranked Guarantano No. 7 overall out of 14 SEC quarterbacks.
“The Guarantano experience was as maddening as ever on Saturday,” Simmons wrote. “He misses throws that he should make, forcing you to question his accuracy, and then he’ll scamper for a first down or drop a dime for a touchdown — like he did on what proved to be the game-winning touchdown to Josh Palmer in the fourth quarter. The inconsistencies are still there. But so is the ability and the toughness.”
Guarantano was 19-of-31 for 231 yards and a touchdown on Saturday against South Carolina. He added a rushing touchdown on a quarterback sneak at the goal line. Guarantano did not throw an interception.
Florida’s Kyle Trask, Mississippi State’s KJ Costello, Alabama’s Mac Jones, Ole Miss’ Matt Corral Auburn’s Bo Nix, and Arkansas’ Stetson Bennett were the quarterbacks that ranked ahead of Guarantano.
Guarantano was ranked ahead of South Carolina’s Collin Hill, LSU’s Myles Brennan, Missouri’s Shawn Robinson, Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, Vanderbilt’s Ken Seals and Arkansas’ Feleipe Franks.
“I thought No. 1, offensively we didn’t have any turnovers,” Pruitt said of Guarantano’s performance against the Gamecocks during Vol Calls on Wednesday. “And if you don’t turn the football over offensively, you’ve got about an 82 percent chance of winning the game.
“I felt like he made pretty good decisions. There was probably two decisions, out of 74 or 76 snaps, that he’d probably liked to have done something else. I think you have to give South Carolina a little credit for that. They confused him on a couple plays. But I thought he was very efficient, got the ball out of his hand. Made some big plays for us just by doing the simple thing, checking the ball down and hanging in there in the pocket. He kept us in the right run plays. Were there three or four throws that he would’ve liked to have back, sure there were.”
Issues with accuracy hurt Guarantano the most during his performance against South Carolina. He’ll look to correct those accuracy issues to go along with his good decision-making this Saturday when No. 21 Tennessee (1-0) kicks off with Missouri (0-1) inside of Neyland Stadium at 12 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.
