Where will Josh Heupel turn now?
Tennessee saw two potential quarterback answers come off the board on Monday night. Sam Leavitt, a guy that sure seemed like the Vols’ top target, committed and signed with LSU. There was plenty of backtracking and speculation that Tennessee came in with a final offer on Tuesday afternoon, but Leavitt ended up sticking with LSU after all.
The only other quarterback on the board that Tennessee had been connected to beyond that had been former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula. The Volunteers hosted him for a visit over the weekend, but late on Monday night, Pribula committed to Virginia. It’s not clear how hard Tennessee pursued him, but he did seem like a potential backup plan as late as Sunday.
Let the tampering begin?
So now what? That’s the question everyone is looking to have answered, but the ugly fact is that nobody knows. If I had to guess, Tennessee has a shortlist of quarterbacks that currently aren’t in the portal but might be swayed by pay raise.
It happens and we all know it — that’s just the truth of the situation, and we’ve seen it play out time and time again over the past few seasons. Heck, we’ve seen Tennessee make an attempt at it following Nico Iamaleava’s exit last offseason. Tennessee was connected to both Josh Hoover and Luke Altmyer, forcing both to make statements that they were staying put.
Just a guess here, but I bet a couple of names out of left field at least get connected to Tennessee. Keep in mind, the transfer portal closes on January 16th. Names that are in the portal can still select new schools, but no new names can enter. Anyone Tennessee want to pursue has to be in by Friday.
The Joey Aguilar wrinkle
A “meeting” with the judge over the JUCO/NCAA case happened on Monday, but no solution was offered. The judge stated that he would be unable to meet with the plaintiffs this week in the case, acknowledging that this would go beyond Friday’s transfer portal deadline.
Diego Pavia was awarded an injunction last season which made him able to compete this season. Aguilar is hoping for the same outcome, but optimism has faded on that front. Aguilar would be the easy and obvious solution to everything, but he’s no guarantee and Tennessee can’t sit around and hope it works out.
Smaller school options — and a quarterback battle?
It may feel like Tennessee’s options have dried up, but a quick look around the portal shows plenty of options left, you just may not have heard of them. A guy like Trinidad Chambliss is the perfect (although admittedly rare) example of a small school kid who blossomed in the right offense. We’ve seen Josh Heupel take Aguilar and mold him into a pretty good fit in about three months. Could he do the same this year? Maybe.
However, that’s not his only option. Several of you have stated from the beginning that Tennessee should just roll with the guys they’ve recruited. After all, both were high profile prospects and a guy like George MacIntrye will be in year two of the system. How good is Faizon Brandon off the jump? You’ll start to find that out this spring.
Adding a third arm to the mix is a must, but that could also just strictly be for depth. It could also become a quarterback competition, avoiding the ridiculously high price tag of pulling a top name into the transfer portal.
Leftover thoughts
Tennessee’s plan here didn’t seem like much of a plan, honestly. They undoubted did plenty of work on the group as a whole, but they showed virtually no interest in anyone but Leavitt. The Pribula visit felt like a backup plan. Outside of that? Nothing.
Is it possible they’re okay with a MacIntyre/Brandon room and a depth piece? Maybe they saw Leavitt as the only true upgrade that they were interested in? Maybe so.
Coming off an 8-5 season with a daunting SEC schedule ahead in a key year for Heupel though, leaving the quarterback spot as such an unknown would be an odd move.
The next three days will be pretty interesting here as Heupel makes his next move.
Category: General Sports
