Tennessee fans know Heath Shuler pretty well considering he was the first Vols quarterback to throw 25 touchdowns in a season and was the precursor to a fellow named Peyton Manning. He led the Vols in 1993 to a 10-2 record and the Florida Citrus Bowl with his 25 TD tosses and 2,354 passing yards. He was voted the runner-up in the Heisman voting to Florida State's Charlie Ward that year so he knows a thing or two about elite QB play.
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When most people talk about this upcoming year and quarterback play in the SEC they are mentioning Ole Miss signal caller Chad Kelly as the top dog. He threw for over 4,500 yards last year and could become the first QB in the conference to have back-to-back 4,000 yard passing seasons. However, Shuler isn't as smitten with him as some other people.
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He says that Tennessee's Josh Dobbs is the man he wants for the job. He likes his dual threat nature and isn't impressed by the 7-on-7 culture the sport has created for high schoolers where defensive backs and receivers look like all-stars while QBs have clean pockets and perfect throwing conditions and never get hit the way Dobbs does in real action.
"He can throw the football, and he can obviously run," Shuler said. "But it's going to be that leadership that separates him from being just a good quarterback to one of the great quarterbacks to play at the University of Tennessee.
"Look, I'd rather have him than any other quarterback playing in the SEC or in the NCAA right now. (As a dual-threat quarterback) he plays havoc with defenses right now."
That's certainly a strong opinion as fall camps getting going around the country and one that will rankle the Ole Miss fans for sure. While Dobbs should be much improved this year, I don't think he will be quite as good as Kelly who is likely to break that SEC passing mark mentioned earlier.
[h/t Gridiron Now]
