Time to Give Coleman & Stephens a Chance

The talk all week in Knoxville has been about the quarterback situation at the University of Tennessee. When asked about the outlook for Saturday night’s game against Northern Illinois offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said: “Regardless of what happens this weekend, we’re going to get Nick Stephens in there.” “Exactly how we’re going to do it, it’s too early to say that yet.”  

When talking about the play of the quarterback position so far Clawson said: “Jonathan has been practicing like he’s the starter for four weeks now, and he will be challenged some this week. “ It’s not just Jonathan, I mean; it’s certainly easy to say it’s the quarterback so make a change, but if we make a change just for the sake of making a change, we are going to be going down this same road with another quarterback in three weeks. You change because it’s going to help your football team. Jonathan is very talented, but the performance we had on Saturday is unacceptable.” 

It looks like both Nick Stephens and Jonathan Crompton will get snaps at quarterback this Saturday but the starter will not be named until one of them wins the job in practice this week.  

B. J. Coleman a freshman from McCallie High school in Chattanooga is not in the mix at this point.

When asked about Coleman, Clawson said: “He’s improved too, but we can’t get three quarterbacks ready. At some point B.J. will have his opportunity. He’s another one that works hard and his understanding is improving as well.”  

Coleman completed 166 of 257 passes for 2,927 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior year at McCallie. He also rushed for 241 yards and 4.7 yards-per-carry average in leading McCallie to the Div. II-AAA state championship game. It is no secret that Coleman was liked very much by former offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, but Cutcliffe is now at Duke.

No one really knows why B. J. hasn’t been given a chance, but so far, the word out of Knoxville is that B. J. has not looked good enough in practice to warrant an opportunity for the starting role. 

I would like to see B. J. and Nick both get their chance in this week’s game. If not this weekend, when? With Georgia and Alabama coming up, this may be our only chance to see them both in live action. No one would argue that the Tennessee offense has been dismal, so why not try something different?

Stephens and Coleman are tall quarterbacks with good arms, and both are on scholarship. It’s no secret that coach Fulmer has been hesitant in the past to make a change at quarterback in SEC games, so I would think that this weekend would be a good time to see what Stephens and Coleman can do. After all, how much worse can it get?