If David Shaw has it his way, he’d see Keller Chryst take full advantage of the final season of college eligibility the Tennessee QB has and take the field for the Volunteers as the team’s starting quarterback this fall.

In a recent interview with Ivan Maisel on the ESPN Campus Conversation podcast, Shaw recalled one of his final pieces of advice for Chryst as a member of his Stanford football program. The way Shaw lays it out, he told Chryst that he would not start for the Cardinal but believes he has the talent to compete at the highest level of not only college football, but down the road in the NFL.

“In a nutshell for me, I truly believe if a young person is at your program for four years and graduates, they should be able to make the best decision for them — whether it’s academically or purely sports based,” Shaw said during his appearance on the podcast. “I’m not going to put any judgments on anybody. But for a guy like Keller, I told him flat out, that he’s too talented to be a backup for me. That he could find a place to be a starting quarterback in college football.

“He showed flashes of brilliance. The Oregon game this past year, you could not play quarterback better than he did in that game. Just outstanding. Had some games that weren’t as good, had some that were really good. (He) got injured, young quarterback got out there and gave us a better chance to win. It was hard for me to come to that conclusion but that’s the conclusion we had to come to.”

Shaw then went on to discuss why he felt that way and why, if Chryst is so talented, didn’t he attempt to keep the quarterback at Stanford for his final season of football.

“To try to talk him into staying as a fifth-year senior just to be a backup for us, I said, ‘You can’t do that. That’s not for you or for your betterment.’ If you can go someplace, find a place to play and play up to his ability, this guy is a draft pick in the top half of the draft,” Shaw said.

That’s a bold take from Shaw but also an interesting one. If Chryst can quickly acclimate himself to Tennessee’s offense, if Shaw is being honest in his assessment of the QB, it’s tough to see Jarrett Guaratanto beating out the former Stanford signal caller by the time the upcoming season rolls around.