Mike Strange: Tennessee's Quinten Dormady, Jarrett Guarantano locked in QB battle
Quinten Dormady allowed himself a brief chuckle in an otherwise straight-faced interview. Sure, he's heard the story about Peyton Manning locking rival Branndon Stewart out of the football building back in 1994.
"Yeah,'' Dormady said Tuesday, "it hasn't gotten that far.''
"It" is the battle to be Tennessee's starting quarterback in 2017. And it's on.
Coach Butch Jones isn't hiding the top story on Team 121. He sent his two top quarterback candidates to meet the media after the first day of practice.
I counted 32 credential-bearing folks wielding TV cameras, cellphones and other recording devices. It's sort of a big deal. Joshua Dobbs is on his way to either the NFL or NASA so Tennessee needs to identify its next quarterback.
As Jarrett Guarantano pointed out, there are five quarterbacks in spring practice, not just two. But if anyone other than Dormady or Guarantano takes the opening snap against Georgia Tech, it will be the biggest shock since, what, losing to Wyoming in 2008?
The battle, percolating in the weight room and meeting rooms for more than two months, finally arrived on the field Tuesday. We got to watch a couple of drills.
The first was footwork, dancing between cones with new quarterback coach Mike Canales barking orders. Then they aired it out. Both threw a fine looking deep ball. Neither will be disqualified based on arm strength.
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Don't expect a decision any time soon. There's too much at stake to make a snap judgment.
"It's hard when you know every little action is being watched and filmed,'' Guarantano said.
That goes for the video room and the meeting room, too. "It's the same in there,'' said Dormady, "as it is out here.''
Everybody's glad it's "out here" now. Real football is getting closer. Nobody is more glad than the candidates themselves.
Guarantano redshirted last year. Sitting is tough for a high school star.
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Dormady hasn't redshirted but he had to watch Dobbs for two years. He's played in 10 games, only when the outcome was decided one way or the other. He's thrown 39 passes.
When the 2017 season arrives, someone will start and someone will watch and wait. It's conceivable, perhaps even likely, both will get meaningful playing time, at least for a while.
Quarterback is different from any position on the field. The majority of coaches like to have The Guy and ride with him. Dobbs prevailed in a competition with Riley Ferguson and Nathan Peterman. Both transferred and had productive careers elsewhere.
That's why the competition is so fierce. It's why Manning famously locked Stewart out of the building so he couldn't study film when the two were true freshmen vying for the starting job. Manning's jersey is retired. Stewart transferred to Texas A&M.
Guarantano and Dormady both say they're good friends and they probably are. But they understand the deal.
For now, the deal is competing, every hour, every day. Their skill sets aren't identical but either can probably succeed in Tennessee's scheme. Both are big lads, 6-foot-4. Both were four-star prospects from areas where football is important. Both are the sons of football dads.
Guarantano played at Bergen Catholic, a program that has won 16 New Jersey state titles. His dad played at Rutgers.
Dormady is from a small Texas town not far from San Antonio. The mystique of Texas high school football is real. His dad, Mike, was his coach.
At this point, there's no reason to think either of them isn't up to the challenge. It's going to be an interesting spring and summer.
And there's this: There are no more keys to the building, rather a numeric touch pad. Both Dormady and Guarantano know the pass code.
Mike Strange may be reached at mike.strange@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @strangemike44.