The news was actually a bit of a surprise. Jarrett Guarantano certainly has potential, but nobody should have expected him to be on the Maxwell Award Preseason Watch List on Monday. After all, Tennessee football was 5-7 last year and outside of the top 100 offensively.
Sure, Guarantano had 12 touchdowns to 3 interceptions, averaged nearly 8 yards per attempt, and completed over 62 percent of his passes. But he only threw for 1,907 yards, and Tyson Helton put a heavy focus on his efficiency over his arm.
So what’s the explanation? Well, the only thing we can say is that the people making the watch list were looking at the advanced data that props up Guarantano.