Jeremy Pruitt updates quarterback battle, says Vols need to find their guy ‘pretty fast’

For the second season in a row, Tennessee enters fall camp with more questions than answers at the quarterback position. The Vols have four options that will get a legitimate chance at the job, if you listen to head coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Pruitt confirmed that once again on Wednesday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta.

“We have two young men — Jarrett and Will — that were there in the spring, so they’re going to have 15 practices under their belt,” Pruitt said. “We add Keller Chryst, who is coming from Stanford and has some experience. We’re adding a young man out of California, JT Shrout. We’re going to give all four of those guys opportunities in fall camp.”

Both Guarantano and McBride got playing time for Tennessee last year, each playing behind a banged up line in a truly broken offensive attack. Each guy has already begun their fresh start in Tyson Helton’s new offense. The quarterback race is likely going to come down to how quickly the new additions — mainly Chryst — can pick up the offense.

Marquez Callaway said that the receivers have been working with the quarterbacks during the summer months, just trying to build some sort of familiarity. That offseason work could make the transition a little smoother in camp, where Pruitt doesn’t really want to drag things out.

“I think for us, you know, it’s seeing what these other two new guys can do, along with seeing how our guys progress in fall camp,” Pruitt said. “It’s going to be important for us as a staff to start whittling it down pretty fast so we can kind of create some rhythm and timing and a little bit of chemistry on offense and figure out who our guys are going to be.”

That would be a direct change from 2017, where the previous staff split reps and kept their decision under wraps until kickoff against Georgia Tech. It’s going to be interesting to see how quickly a decision is made and if Pruitt will let the media in on any sort of a decision.