No matter what you think about Urban Meyer, his take on Tennessee Football this season hits the nail on the head.
“Here’s the reality: Tennessee is screwed,” the multiple national championship head coach said during a recent appearance on The Triple Option podcast. “They got a problem. You lose a potential high draft pick…now you have a redshirt freshman that threw nine passes as a freshman. You have zero experience, and the portal opens as we speak. They are going to have to go get one.”
Going to get a quarterback out of the transfer portal isn’t going to be easy for Tennessee Football considering the spring transfer portal doesn’t usually reap great benefits. Why? Those players have only a couple of months to get up to speed before preseason camp begins.
Making an impact in the first year, especially for a quarterback, at a new school in extremely difficult with such a quick turnaround. However, Meyer seems to think that’s the direction the Vols should go. There are a couple of current Vols that would disagree with that ascertain.
Tennessee certainly has talent at quarterback on its roster with two former four-star prospects ready to line up under center. Redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger is the odds-on favorite to be the starter this season, but he’s only attempted nine passes as Meyer pointed out. That’s not good.
True freshman George MacIntyre, like Merklinger, is highly rated, but both are young, underdeveloped and lack collegiate experience. It may pain you to think it, but Meyer’s dire assessment of Tennessee’s quarterback position is spot on. Moreover, his assessment of where Tennessee coach Josh Heupel might be in a few months is also very likely on target.
“There’s a couple key elements here,” Meyer said. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Nice job Tennessee, making a stand.’ I’ve got a little comment on that. Tennessee plays Florida usually every year…Can you imagine that game’s going the other way and coach Heupel grabs the microphone and stands on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium and says, ‘It’s OK, I made a stand way back when.”
Meyer is right. While most, especially UT fans, seem to think “taking a stand” will garner Heupel more time to build Tennessee into a championship contender, that’s probably not the case. Iamaleava will be forgotten by the end of the season. If the Vols are 7-5 or 6-6 due to poor quarterback play, Heupel still deserves the blame no matter what Iamaleava may have unfairly done to the Vols.
Heupel should have Tennessee Football at a championship contending level by his fifth season as a Vol. Excuses like Iamaleava won’t hold water for long. However, there is a possible answer.
Tennessee could get super aggressive in the transfer portal and land a top-flight quarterback instead of just a warm body to handle practice snaps. I’d suggest an avenue that the Iamaleava debacle opened up. How about signing UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar?
Aguilar was a standout at Appalachian State before transferring to be a big part of the Bruins’ offensive plans. Surely, he would consider heading back east after Iamaleava has likely stolen his starting position.
Tennessee also doesn’t have to rely as much on its quarterback this season, whoever that might be. Head coach Josh Heupel has shown he can rely on the run and protect his quarterbacks with multiple pass blockers and simple route combinations. Get ready for some more two-tight end sets!
There just is no way to spin Iamaleava’s departure as a positive for the Vols. Yes, he might have been a distraction, but he was more talented and more experienced than Merklinger or MacIntyre. Yes, Heupel took a stand, but the cost of doing so could result in irreparable damage to his Tennessee Football tenure.
