Butch Jones on the Quarterback Battle: “They don’t have to win the game, just manage the game.”

During Butch Jones first appearance on the ESPN “car wash” today, the 5th year head coach updated the main burning question on Tennessee fans minds — the quarterback competition.

“We’re excited about our quarterback situation right now. It’s really a good situation to have.” Jones pointed to Jarrett Guarantano first, saying “We have a youngster in Jarrett Guarantano who is going to be a redshirt freshman. Very energetic — live arm, can run the football.”

Butch quickly changed gears. “Then we have Quinten Dormady out of Texas, who’s an individual who’s been in our program. Drop back passer, but very — sneaky athletically. So we’re excited about that. As you guys know you can never have too much competition. I think that’s really elevated our entire football program.”

When asked what each quarterback needs to show, Butch harped on a familiar word. “Consistency. Consistency in performance — taking care of the football. They don’t have to win the game, just manage the game.”

If consistency is the name of the game, look no further than Quentin Dormady’s spring game performance. I know that’s not the end all in this equation, but it’s hard to ignore his flawless (literally) performance.

The X-Factor here without doubt is the athletic ability of Jarrett Guarantano, however. We’ve seen Butch’s offense operate with a dual threat quarterback now for three seasons. It’s hard to remember what it looked like with Justin Worley back there.

Butch keeps saying how Dormady is sneaky athletic though, which tells me the offense might not change much with him under center as some think it would. Jones is playing this close to the vest and has every intention of making this a camp battle. For everyone’s sake, I just hope one of these guys grabs the job and runs away with it in August. A two quarterback system is something I don’t want to see.