Tennessee finished off the 2019 early signing period with a bang last week, and it has their starting quarterback feeling very confident about next season.
On Friday, the Vols capped off this year’s early signing period by getting the signature of elite four-star athlete Quavaris Crouch. That came on the heels of signing four-star, in-state running back Eric Gray on Thursday and signing 17 players in the 2019 class on Wednesday.
Not only that, but Tennessee also got some big news on the transfer market on Friday even before they found out they would be signing Crouch.
Michigan defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon announced on Friday afternoon that he would be taking his talents to Tennessee for the rest of his collegiate career. The former five-star defensive tackle had announced earlier in the week that he intended to transfer off the Wolverines’ roster, and the 6-foot-3, 297-pound sophomore selected the Vols as his transfer destination on Friday.
And it was that particular piece of news that made rising redshirt junior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano so excited.
Guarantano replied to Solomon’s tweet announcing his transfer to UT by saying “we’re definitely up to something” and adding “our year” as a hashtag after that along with a reaction gif.
Yeah we’re definitely up to something… ? #OurYear pic.twitter.com/PPGh9WD7rn
— Jarrett Guarantano✞ (@BroadwayJay2) December 21, 2018
Solomon played in all 13 games as a true freshman for Michigan, totaling 18 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. Injuries hampered him this past season, as he only appeared in six games and totaled just six tackles. Coming out of high school in Leesburg, Georgia, Solomon was a five-star prospect who was rated as the No. 23 overall player and the No. 2 defensive tackle in the 2017 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
Tennessee also got news last week that rising redshirt senior linebacker Darrell Taylor is returning for his final season as a Vol, and that also made Guarantano excited.
— Jarrett Guarantano✞ (@BroadwayJay2) December 20, 2018
As a redshirt sophomore, Guarantano enjoyed an improved 2018 season as Tennessee’s full-time starting quarterback. He completed 62.2 percent of his 246 pass attempts for 1,907 yards, 12 touchdowns, and three interceptions. He averaged 8.2 yards per attempt and 7.8 yards per completion in his 12 starts.
Though he showed improvement, Guarantano’s efforts (and the Vols’ team as a whole) weren’t enough to get Tennessee back to a bowl game, as they finished the 2018 season with a 5-7 record. The Vols missed out on the postseason for the second straight year and have now lost 19 of their last 32 games as a program.
But with the additions Tennessee made this past week in recruiting and with Aubrey Solomon as a transfer, Guarantano is confident next season will be a much better year for the Vols.
