Tennessee head coach Butch Jones met with the media Monday to discuss the beginning of his fifth spring camp in Knoxville. Considering all the massive shakeup to his coaching staff and his roster this offseason, potentially the biggest piece of to-be-determined news will be the team’s next starting quarterback.

Given the gravity of the decision, Jones didn’t waste much time before diving into the subject. According to Jones, he’ll ultimately make his decision based on one key aspect – consistency.

“From a quarterback perspective, it comes down to consistency,” Jones said during his latest press conference. “Consistency and performance every single day. You can never be too high or too low. Individuals who can manage our offense and get us in the appropriate plays, leadership that is associated with playing the quarterback position.

“I would say the big thing is going to be consistency day in and day out and competing. I think when you compete on a daily basis you are going improve each and every day. We want to see constant growth and improvement.”

Whether that was something on Jones’ mind before participating in Jon Gruden’s Quarterback Camp with his former starting quarterback or not, the coach seemed to have taken something from that experience and transferred it to his current dilemma. Jones alluded to his connection with Joshua Dobbs during their time spent with Gruden last week in Orlando.

“From a personal note, I was really fortunate to be at the Gruden Quarterback Camp with Joshua Dobbs,” Jones admitted. “It was really eye-opening to me. He was finishing my sentences and I was finishing his sentences. To me, that was a challenge with a lot of young players in our program. Obviously, the competition with finding a quarterback is that we are all on the same page, we all speak the same terminology and that was really evident when we were in Orlando at the quarterback camp with John Gruden. So those are things that take a lot of time in terms of the communications aspect.”

With many questioning which player will become Tennessee’s next starting quarterback, Jones has given the blueprint for everyone to follow: the combination of consistency, comfort, and understanding will all factor into the decision that could define the Volunteers’ 2017 campaign.

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