ForumsA year ago at this time, no one knew much about Tyler Bray.
As a group, Tennessee’s quarterbacks were considered a ‘work in progress’. Matt Simms had been named the starter while Bray, a talented midyear enrollee, would likely back up Simms and hopefully ease into a starting job at some point.
That point came in game nine when Bray earned his fist start against Memphis. He took the reigns and didn’t look back.
When the season concluded, Bray had appeared in a total of nine games for the Vols, starting the final five. He threw for 1,849 yards and 18 touchdowns, both freshman records, and was officially dubbed a ‘gunslinger’ by some.
But Bray’s performance didn’t always follow the exact path his coach had in mind. As happens in most cases, youth and inexperience lead to mistakes. Through it all, however, the young signal-caller didn’t get “affected”, as Dooley likes to say.
“It’s a little bit like parenting,” Dooley said. “They don’t always do it the way you want, but then they do it, and you go, Well, that wasn’t too bad after all.”
“And that’s what Tyler was. He showed two main things out there last year. One is a level of confidence that was rare for a freshman to go get thrown into the fire. He went out there and no matter what happened to him, he never flinched, he never got affected. That’s a great quality to have as a quarterback.”
“Secondly, he had a tremendous ability to aggressively push the ball down the field and generate a lot of explosive plays. So that’s a great starting point for a quarterback.”
Looking ahead to 2011, some questions still remain.
Will Bray suffer from the dreaded sophomore slump? How will he perform without the senior leadership of receivers Gerald Jones and Denarius Moore? Will he be able to adjust to defenses which try to take away the deep ball?
According to Dooley, Bray is still an infant, but he’s putting in the work and he’s improving. The rest will come with experience.
“He’s made a tremendous investment in getting better, having a better command of the offense, being able to make better decisions, put our offenses in better positions. It’s only going to come with experience.”
Even with the high expectations he faces, Dooley expects Bray to impress.
“So as long as he continues on that track of improvement, I think we’re all going to be impressed with what Tyler’s production is.”
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Bray to impress!
You go boy.
Rogers and Hunter will be big factors in determining how successful Bray is.
“It’s a little bit like parenting,” Dooley said. “They don’t always do it the way you want, but then they do it, and you go, Well, that wasn’t too bad after all.”
What Hall Of Fame QB soon to be does this sound like.
Can’t wait to see you in action once again. GO VOLS!!!!!!!!!
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