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Tennessee’s backup QBs are true freshmen, and that’s okay
By Ethan Levine
Published:
Joshua Dobbs is the face of the franchise in Knoxville, Tenn. He’s not just the team’s best player, but he’s a star and a leader at football’s most important position, and he’ll have more bearing on the outcome of Tennessee’s season this fall than any other player on the roster.
If Dobbs gets hurt and has to miss time, that’s not a good thing for Tennessee. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. The Vols’ chances of winning the SEC would be nearly lost, and Butch Jones’ steady plan to rebuild one of the nation’s proudest football traditions would be set back an entire year.
But if Dobbs got hurt, it wouldn’t necessarily be a disaster, either. Tennessee’s two primary backup quarterbacks — Quinten Dormady and Jauan Jennings — are both true freshman early enrollees this spring, meaning they have zero snaps at the college level between them. That’s not ideal, but again it’s not a disaster.
Both Dormady and Jennings bring completely different skill sets to the offense, but together they could keep the team afloat in the SEC, leading it at least as far as its 6-6 record a year ago, resulting in another bowl game to sustain some of the momentum gained in 2014. Neither has experience, but they have each other to play off of and a wealth of talent around them in UT’s starting offense.
Dormady, a four-star pro-style quarterback from the 2015 class, looked to be as sharp a passer as Dobbs in the spring game, fundamentally speaking, of course. He completed 5 of 11 throws during last weekend’s spring game, but actually threw for two more yards than Dobbs on the day (96 for Dormady, 94 for the returning starter). He added a touchdown toss to his stat line as well, leading the UT offense on a handful of sustained drives on the day.
Dormady showed poise in the pocket and accuracy on his throws, nearly topping Dobbs in Jones’ quarterback obstacle course during Saturday’s spring game festivities. He’s the kind of player capable of leading Jones offense to the same heights Dobbs is expected to lead the unit this fall, but Dormady will have to wait his turn as Dobbs writes his own legacy in the UT history books.
“I thought for Quentin, from practice one to practice fifteen, continued to develop,” Jones told the media after Saturday’s action. “Somedays larger steps than others, but there was still an incline of moving up. I thought he did a very good job today of managing the offense, showing some collective calmness about himself, some poise playing in that type of situation, with 63,000, I thought he handled himself well.”
Jennings, on the other hand, is a four-star dual-threat quarterback from the 2015 class who brings a completely different flavor to the offense. If Dormady is the mirror of Dobbs’ arm, Jennings is the mirror of Dobbs’ rushing abilities. In fact, he’s likely an even better runner than Dobbs at the quarterback position, utilizing blazing speed and excellent agility to make plays with his legs outside the pocket.
Jennings led UT in rushing in the spring game with 58 yards on the ground including an electrifying 45-yard touchdown run (and he was allowed to be hit unlike UT’s other quarterbacks). He only completed 1 of 5 passes, but with his running ability and the abilities of star tailbacks Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, he could lead one of the SEC’s most potent rushing attacks like a very, very, very poor man’s Nick Marshall did at Auburn.
“To his credit, he wants to be live. That is his skill set. We all saw that he is an explosive player, and he can make plays when the ball is in his hands,” Jones said after Saturday’s spring game. “Obviously, we have to work on his throw game, which he knows that. He can make some plays with the ball in his hands.”
These two freshmen could complement one another without ever having to become the guy prematurely in their careers. Dormady could manage the offense for the most part, but Jones could sprinkle in a few packages with Jennings to give opponents a different look and to attack teams in a variety of ways. It’s not the kind of system that can lead you to a championship, but it is a system that can keep a team afloat midseason as it battles injury troubles.
Plus, these two true freshmen could gain some valuable live-game experience if thrust into the lineup this fall. Again, it’s not ideal, but that’s another silver lining one could find in this hypothetical.
It’s worth noting that Jennings may be redshirted this season as Dormady handles the No. 2 duties on his own. Those are decisions Jones will have to make between now and the season opener in early September.
And to reassure Vols fans one final time, Dobbs is not hurt and should be 100 percent for the season opener, barring an injury suffered between now and then. This is merely a hypothetical.
But while most teams’ seasons would be derailed upon losing its starting quarterback, Tennessee’s might not if that situation arises. And considering its two backups have never played a snap in the SEC, that’s pretty remarkable.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.
