One thing Peyton Manning didn't encounter
HOOVER, Alabama — WWPD in the Tennessee football program has universal meaning – What Would Peyton Do? – and this is a question that has loomed over each of his successors.
Of course, most of them have not been surrounded by national championship-level talent as Peyton Manning was in Knoxville in the 1990s. It’s interesting to consider what Manning would do right now, in the cleats of Jarrett Guarantano, buried too often by opposing defenses because of a shaky offensive line and blamed too often by fans for the losing of a shaky program. Maybe he’d lift it all out of the mire because he was one of the best to play the game.
Or maybe that wouldn’t matter as much as you might think. Maybe Guarantano is better than we realize. Maybe offensive coordinator Jim Chaney will fortify things around him and bring the best out of him this fall, and Guarantano’s junior season will be a breakthrough for him and his team.
He plays the most important position, but no individual can overcome collective inferiority in this game. Guarantano must lead a step forward in coach Jeremy Pruitt’s second season, with a lot of help. That’s what he was talking about Tuesday, surrounded by reporters at SEC Media Days, showing the kind of personality that invites belief.
“I went into this offseason with a lot of skepticism of what didn’t work and what did work (last season),” Guarantano said of a sophomore season that was up, down and all around decent in the end. “I checked the film. I checked the practice sessions from last year. I checked on throwing motions, footwork, all those types of things. I think I studied myself very well, and I think I was able to fix some things that I didn’t like as much.”
What would Peyton say? Probably a lot of the same things under the same circumstances. But you don’t have to wonder what Peyton would say right now about Guarantano because I asked him about Guarantano last month. And he sees the same things that people who aren’t inclined to put every setback on a quarterback see – a talented, resilient player who needs to keep growing.
“He’s a tough kid; that’s the thing,” Manning said. “He gets hit, and he gets back up.”
Also: “I’m excited for Jarrett. He throws the ball well, and he’s got a lot of potential.”
Also: “I think he made some strides last year in some ways, but with Jim Chaney coming in now, that’s a strong track record (of developing quarterbacks). Jarrett’s cramming a bit right now, and every rep is going to matter.”
These words were spoken before Guarantano took part in the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in the final weekend of June. They got to know each other better at the camp last summer, and Guarantano said they talk two or three times a month now, saying of that connection: “Luckily we have a good relationship, and I think even before I started doing this film (review), he told me to go back and look at interception tapes, sack tapes, touchdown tapes, look at different drives, look at red zone. Peyton has really helped me out a lot, and when I get around him I get to ask him more questions, and I feel comfortable enough with him to do that.”
One thing Guarantano can’t ask Manning is what it’s like to be an SEC quarterback in the age of instant feedback on a handheld electronic device. The basic routine for college and pro athletes these days is to play, resort to the locker room, shower, then check Twitter and see what people are saying to and about them. Or maybe it’s check Twitter, then shower.
Either way, Guarantano acknowledged Tuesday that he wasn’t ready for
Jim Chaney wants pre-snap freedom
A lot has changed for Guarantano. His affection for Chaney is obvious – their informal film sessions sound like Luke Skywalker absorbing the wisdom of Yoda – and he said of the anticipated jump this season in his pre-snap freedom at the line: “I can’t even put it into words; it’s a lot different. Coach Chaney is really trusting me with this offense.”
Guarantano gets to stop into the office of Tee Martin and chat now. Martin, who succeeded Manning as UT quarterback in 1998 and won a national championship, is UT’S assistant head coach, passing game coordinator and receivers coach. He and Guarantano have a relationship dating to Guarantano’s recruitment.
And he’s comfortable chatting with Pruitt, too. That’s no small thing. That’s no easy thing. Pruitt arrived with a strong hand in his first year, trying to shape up a place that needed a strong hand.
“It was going to be hard to build relationships in that sense,” Guarantano said. “But as (this) offseason started, he’s made it a big thing that relationships are big and we need them.”
Guarantano and his girlfriend came to Pruitt’s house to have dinner with him and his wife, Casey, in February. Guarantano identified that as a positive step for them, beyond the blueberry cobbler. And the coach who kept him away from reporters for most of last season decided to make him one of three program representatives at SEC Media Days.
“He’s been a tremendous leader over the last six months of this offseason,” Pruitt said of Guarantano. And that’s an awful lot of hope for one day in midjuly.
If it’s followed by two seasons with a lot of wins, the only question about Guarantano in Knoxville will be: WWJD?
Reach Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.