Tennessee Has A ‘Gem’ At QB, Per Greg McElroy, And It’s Not Who You Think
By Cody McClure
Tennessee is probably going to officially name Joey Aguilar as the starting quarterback for the Vols sooner rather than later.
While it has been a battle throughout fall camp between Aguilar, Jake Merklinger, and George MacIntyre, it’s no surprise that the guy with the most college football experience is projected to win the job.
What has been a bit of a surprise is just how good MacIntyre has been, according to numerous folks who have watched UT practice.
ESPN’s Greg McElroy had some interesting comments about G-Mac recently on his Always College Football show.
“One guy we have not talked a whole lot about is a guy named George MacIntyre, who has been running for the most part with the seconds and thirds,” McElroy said. “So it’s not like he’s getting live one reps all the time and he’s just starting to show ‘man, this is the guy’ … It’s not quite to that point yet.
“But if you talk to anybody that has watched Tennessee practice, if you talk to anybody that has watched Tennessee scrimmage, it sounds like they might have a gem in George MacIntyre.”
George the Gem. Gem George.
“And while I don’t know if he’ll be the day one starter by any stretch, the fact that he’s in this competition tells you a lot about his makeup, how consistent he is, how accurate he is, and his comfort level right now operating Josh Heupel’s offense,” McElroy continued. “He’s not the most physically mature guy just yet, but it sounds like the accuracy is something that is really surprising some folks and has been very, very impressive.
“So keep an eye on this. Like I said, I still think it will be Aguilar (who starts). But the longer this competition goes, if it goes into the regular season, don’t be surprised if at some point this year you see the true freshman George MacIntyre. He’s been very, very impressive here in fall camp up to this point.”
Good stuff from Greg.
I’ve been a King George guy since I saw the kid in spring ball. With some guys you can just tell that they’ve got “it” and I thought that when watching MacIntyre sling it. Though, I’m no expert on quarterbacks.
As McElroy stated, he’s probably not quite ready for the SEC, physically.
But as the great local radio caller Roger once said, “that ball ain’t round.”
Football can be a strange game, so it wouldn’t be shocking to me if we end up seeing MacIntyre on the field this year.