The Quarterback Position In Knoxville

I don't like to dwell, often, about posts specifically related to Tennessee Football. But somethings are just meant to be, and with the 1-3 start, there's without question some reasons to talk.

As you know, I was high on the Vols pre-season. I thought they had a tough road, but I thought they certainly had the talent to be not just competitive, but very, very competitive, not only in the SEC, but by season's end, the national picture. Then Norm Chow happened. Then Jonathan Crompton happened, and more Arian Foster than we know what to do with.

It's almost hard to find a place to start with how bad things are looking. I was high on Crompton coming into the year, I really was. Big kid, strong arm, but apparently, he's the dumbest person of all time, best said by Gary Danielson's comment, "I mean, is this kid coached to not throw touchdown passes..." after he apparently didn't see a streaking Denarius Moore all alone in the endzone last Saturday against Auburn.

This kid is so bad, it's unreal. It's almost like there's someone in the second row in a catchers outfit, crouched down signaling for the fastball, and Crompton just looks to deliver the heat up into the 2nd row each throw on the sideline. Apparently, this kid can't see the middle of the field. Apparently, this kid sees his first read as being covered, and throws the ball into the next zipcode.

I've never seen anyone like this. How do you not complete a ball in the fourth quarter? The Vols defense was as good as about anyone in the nation, especially in the second half of last Saturday's game. But the kid couldn't complete a pass to save his life, let alone the life of his team in the SEC race.

And the fumbles are out of control. Say what you want, but I know the position of quarterback. Execution was always another story, but I know the position. And the fumble on Saturday wasn't Arian Foster's fault. Sure, he didn't help Crompton out too much, but Foster didn't grab at the ball. It's Crompton's job to get him the football regardless how small of a cradle that Foster gives him to work with, and that I why I put the blame on Crompton.

If we had anyone serviceable at the quarterback position, we'd be 3-1 at least. And that doesn't include being down only 14-10 at halftime against Florida. Sure, anything could have happened, but we could have won that game with the way our defense played. Ok, special teams is another story as well.

But this is on the quarterback. He's miserable, absolutely terrible. I won't even get into what I think about the offensive coordinator. But at this point, at 1-3, the head coach has to do something to show the fans that there is something coming. Give us something to believe in. He has said that putting Eric Berry in the backfield might not give us anything that Gerald Jones can't with his package. Maybe that's the case, but if Eric Berry is lined up at quarterback, at least every fan that knows anything about the Vols would go absolutely nuts and would be more excited at that point in time than at any other time throughout the course of this season.

1-3 is terrible but honestly, I believe we are one terrible player away from having the ability to win the rest of our games, with the way our defense is playing. We don't need much if they keep this up. Not a whole lot at all. But just one time, please, just once, put in anyone. I don't care who it is, but we can't continue to be competitive with Crompton at quarterback, so we might as well try something else.