The Vols Still Need To Answer A Very UNDERRATED Question...

AtoZ Sports

Lucas Panzica talks about the state of the Tennessee Volunteers, heading into the 2025 football season, focusing in today on the backup quarterback position.

Transcript

00:00As spring practice continues for the Tennessee Volunteers,

00:03there is one position that we have not talked about enough that

00:06could take a big step back in 2025.

00:13Hey, Lucas Panzeca here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.

00:17Look, there are a lot of question marks on this Tennessee

00:19roster for the upcoming season.

00:21No doubt, wide receiver, offensive line, pass rusher, who steps

00:26up to replace the production of James Pierce Jr., cornerback,

00:29who fills in while Jermod McCoy recovers from his ACL injury.

00:33A lot to work on throughout the course of spring practice and

00:37the rest of this offseason for this football team.

00:39But there is one very under-discussed position that fits that

00:43category, and it's the backup quarterback spot.

00:47Think about this.

00:47Since Josh Heupel took over as the head coach at Tennessee

00:51in 2021, the Vols quietly have had one of the best backup

00:55quarterback situations in the country, let alone the SEC, during

00:59that time. Josh Heupel gets to Knoxville and acquires a team,

01:04inherits a team that already has Hendon Hooker in place.

01:07He goes out and gets a veteran quarterback in the portal in

01:10Joe Milton.

01:11We all understand what happened from there.

01:13Joe Milton initially started, Hendon Hooker came in.

01:16The rest is history with Hooker taking this offense to great

01:19heights in 2022, but Joe Milton stayed as his backup, and we

01:23saw how that paid off for Tennessee in that orange bowl following

01:27the 2022 season.

01:29Then 2023 comes along.

01:30Joe Milton has his opportunity as the starting quarterback with

01:34a five-star freshman in Nico Iemaliava backing him up.

01:38Not a bad situation to be in.

01:40Joe Milton moves on to the NFL draft and in 2024, Nico Iemaliava

01:44is the starting quarterback with an experienced stable backup in

01:48Gaston Moore.

01:49Now, Gaston Moore didn't have the talent profile that Hendon

01:52Hooker, Joe Milton, or Nico Iemaliava did, but he was a very

01:58experienced and competent backup that had been in the Josh

02:02Hypel system since the UCF days, and Gaston Moore was a guy that

02:06could come in and win you a game in a pinch, and we saw that when

02:10he came in and played the entire second half against Mississippi

02:13State when Nico Iemaliava left that game with a concussion.

02:17Now, I understand a lot of you may have a lasting image of Gaston

02:20Moore throwing an interception against Alabama on the one play

02:24that he came in, but make no mistake, Tennessee had an excellent

02:28backup quarterback situation.

02:30They could trust Gaston Moore to come in and take care of things

02:34and just stabilize things in a pinch.

02:36If Nico was out, well, Gaston Moore is no longer on this football

02:40team, and as we look towards 2025, Nico Iemaliava obviously will

02:45enter another year as this team starting quarterback, but who will

02:48be the backup?

02:49That's a battle at the moment between incoming sophomore Jake

02:53Merklinger and freshman George McIntyre.

02:56Now, both players were highly recruited.

02:58We're four-star prospects out of high school, but both players are

03:02extremely inexperienced, so there's no question there will be a

03:06talented option there regardless of who wins it, and at the moment

03:10you probably give Jake Merklinger the slight edge just for having

03:13a year in the system.

03:14For George McIntyre out of Brentwood Academy, there's a lot to

03:17work on including his frame as he gets acclimated to the college

03:20game, but it is a question mark until we see one of those two

03:25guys actually get reps at the quarterback position.

03:28There's no question the backup sport quarterback spot for Tennessee

03:32has as many questions in 2025 as it has had in the entire Josh

03:37Heupel era.

03:38Now again, both guys are talented and in the end somebody's going

03:41to win that job and this coaching staff will trust them.

03:44Hopefully they will not need them in 2025, but it's something to

03:48think about and something that this football program will have to

03:51focus on throughout the course of this offseason.

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