Report: Frank Harris out, UTSA starting backup QB Eddie Lee Marburger vs. Tennessee
Tennessee has caught a break as the Volunteers try to rebound from a loss to Florida with a home matchup against UTSA. The Roadrunners are going to be without veteran starting quarterback Frank Harris, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, and will start Eddie Lee Marburger in his stead.
UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor had previously said Harris would be a game-time decision. But apparently his turf toe hasn’t progressed to the point that he can play.
It will be Marburger’s second start, as he got the nod in UTSA’s loss to Army in Week 3. He threw for 239 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in his starting debut.
Tennessee has quarterback wrinkles to iron out, too
Tennessee‘s high-powered offense didn’t look so high-powered last weekend in The Swap as they took a 29-16 loss to the Gators. And per usual in football, a lot of those offensive struggles have been pinned on Volunteers’ quarterback Joe Milton.
Milton hasn’t necessarily lived up to the tremendous amount of offseason hype surrounding him so far three weeks through the season. And his head coach and former Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel spoke about guiding Milton through the criticism and outside noise.
“Yeah nobody was every critical of me when I was playing quarterback so I didn’t have to deal with that situation,” Heupel joked.
“Listen, and it’s for everybody in the building right, if you think your values based off of outside opinion when it’s going well or when it hasn’t gone as well as you would like it to you’re putting yourself in a situation to be up and down. Be consistent in your preparation, you gotta plan for those guys every single week, be into your routine.”
The Volunteers definitely did not start off conference play the way they imagined, as the nation’s top scoring offense from a season ago was held to their lowest point total since the Georgia Bulldogs held them to 13 points last season.
Milton has completed 63.9% of his passes this season for 716 yards, six touchdowns through the air, and three on the ground along with one interception. His production isn’t too far off from what Hendon Hooker displayed through three weeks of the season last year for the Vols, but a subpar performance in a loss to a conference rival definitely shifts the outside narrative.
But through their recent offensive struggles, Heupel believes that Milton and the offense leaning into their process and preparation can turn things around for them.
“Doesn’t ensure that you’re going to play perfect, it’s hard in this game to do that,” Heupel admitted. “You’ve got 11 guys on the other side of the football, you’ve got strategy from the coaches. At the end of the day, you prepare the best you can to put yourself in a position to go play your best. Joe’s got things that he can do better, but the guys around him gotta do things better too and at the end of the day if you’re in 2nd and 20 all day it makes things real difficult.”