Cameron Sutton says Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano is ‘Amazing’

quote:

---

INDIANAPOLIS — Cameron Sutton had one word to describe Jarrett Guarantano: “Amazing.”

Speaking at the NFL combine on Sunday afternoon, the former Tennessee cornerback gushed about the redshirt freshman quarterback who might be the Vols’ Week 1 starter this fall.

“He’s not a guy who’s scared to be out of his comfort zone,” Sutton said. “He comes to the defensive side of the ball, and he wants to learn. I picked up a lot of things talking to him, and we bounced some ideas off each other, just to help his game overall. He didn’t play much last year, but I’m definitely looking forward to him stepping up into that role this year.”

Sutton’s comments came two days after former Tennessee wide receiver Josh Malone said he left Tennessee early to avoid playing with Guarantano and rising junior Quinten Dormady (39 career pass attempts).

With star quarterback Josh Dobbs heading to the NFL, Malone saw his own return as too much of a risk after a career season.

“I had a good year, and then my quarterback was leaving,” Malone said Friday. “Just with the change and the freshman quarterbacks and trying to play through their growing pains just really wasn’t going to be worthwhile. So I just went ahead and took the chance.”

RELATED: Guarantano plans to ‘run away’ with starting opportunity

Dobbs, Malone and Sutton are joined by running back Alvin Kamara, defensive lineman Derek Barnett and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin in Indianapolis. There’s a good chance all six will be drafted this spring, which would be a vast improvement over the goose egg from the last two years.

Sutton, who graduated with a degree in communication studies, said he wants to “get into coaching and training” when his playing career is over. When asked to review Tennessee’s up-and-down 2016 season, he was quick to emphasize the positives.

“It was great,” Sutton said. “Ending the season on the winning side (a Music City Bowl victory over Nebraska), it gives a lot of momentum to the team going into this year. That’s something they can build off of.”

---