Randy Smith
Several years ago when the Tennessee basketball team was playing at Nebraska in a non-conference game, I traveled with the team and did the TV play-by-play with my partner and friend Bill Justus. Another good friend Buzz Peterson was the Vols' head coach then and the Cornhuskers built a sizeable lead in the first half. Tennessee had a young freshman sharpshooter on the bench that night who didn't start the game. With the Volunteers trailing by double-digits, the young sharpshooter came off the bench and hit four three pointers and cut the Huskers lead in half.
He then went to the bench and did not return for the remainder of the first half. Bill Justus and I looked at each other at halftime and wondered why we didn't see more of this emerging star.
To make a long story short, the young man played briefly in the second half and Tennessee suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Nebraska. The discussion between Bill and me on the way back to the hotel following the game centered around why the youngster didn't play more in the game. Coach Peterson's job was really shaky and the general consensus was if I'm going to lose my job I want to lose it with the best players on the floor. The young player's name was Chris Lofton who would set records for shooting the rock and help Tennessee win a lot of basketball games for his new coach Bruce Pearl starting the next season.
I don't believe in bringing a young superstar along slowly. In other words, put them in and let them play unless perhaps you already have an older superstar in front of them. As far as the current quarterback situation at Tennessee goes, Jarrett Guarantano is no superstar. He's a great kid who works hard but his play has been totally inconsistent since he's been at Tennessee. The Volunteers have a five star recruit on the bench and was listed number four on the depth chart for last week's 34-7 loss to Kentucky. Harrison Bailey is the quarterback of the future for Tennessee and, while his playing time against the Wildcats was minimal, the more snaps he gets the better he will be. Will he start this week against Alabama? I have no idea but I would assume Guarantano will get the nod against the second-ranked Crimson Tide.
I'm not saying Harrison Bailey is the next Trevor Lawrence in college football. Lawrence played quite a bit behind Kelly Bryant as a true freshman until the fifth game of the year when Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney named Lawrence the starter. All Lawrence did was lead the Tigers to a national championship as a true freshman. Lawrence was simply too good to sit on the bench so Dabo pulled the trigger and allowed Bryant to transfer.
I've said all that to say this. Tennessee Coach Jeremy Pruitt should play Harrison Bailey at quarterback. They need to get him as much playing time as possible so when the 2021 season rolls around and all these other talented newcomers arrive, the Vols will have no questions about who is going to play quarterback. Just makes sense.
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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com