Can Tennessee's Joshua Dobbs be the best QB in the SEC?

Joshua Dobbs is one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC, and with two more years left in his college career, he could very well develop into the best quarterback in the SEC.

It’s no secret. The Tennessee Volunteers have many young, talented players on both sides of the ball, and they’re all about to hit their stride.

Coach Butch Jones has done a marvelous job recruiting, bringing in multiple top ten recruiting classes, and this fall, it could pay off in a big way as the Vols are set to make a run at an SEC Championship.

To do this, however, it will take more than a few highly rated recruits making plays. It’s going to take a solid performance by junior quarterback, Joshua Dobbs, who has seen the field multiple times in the past two seasons.

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Dobbs came to Tennessee as a three-star recruit, per rivals, and didn’t get many big-time offers. Instead, he got offers to more academic universities such as: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Duke.

Dobbs is known around the SEC as the smart guy, with no eyebrows. Dobbs is an aerospace engineering major, and was a 4.0 student in high school.

To say his class schedule is more difficult than most other student-athletes is an understatement. Dobbs takes mostly honors classes, and according to CBS Sports, Dobbs’ schedule is gruesome.

Recently, Dobbs named 48 digits of Pi, and as a result, he got to pie a Tennessee reporter in the face.

So, yeah, Dobbs is pretty smart; that’s the point. What’s more remarkable is that he’s doing it all as a starting quarterback in the SEC.

Dobbs has started games for the Volunteers since his freshman season and played well in relief of injured quarterbacks.

His true freshman campaign started, well, poorly. In his first four games, Dobbs failed to pass or rush for a touchdown, tossing five interceptions along the way. The next week, however, Dobbs finished the season strong with a couple touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown.

Dobbs’ sophomore season started in the same way as his freshman year when he was thrown to the fire after an injury to Justin Worley in Tennessee’s loss to Ole Miss and the next week Dobbs made his first start of the season against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Dobbs went on to have a great end to his sophomore season, with his best game coming in Tennessee’s overtime win over South Carolina when he threw for 301 yards while rushing for 166 yards in the win over the Gamecocks.

Unlike the past two seasons, Dobbs will be Tennessee’s starting quarterback on opening day, a role he’s worked for since arriving in Knoxville, but unlike any season he’s experienced on Rocky Top, Dobbs will be leading a team that’s predicted to do very well.

Tennessee’s offense is full of young talent with four or five-star recruits at the skill positions. At the running back position, they will feature two of the best running backs in the country, Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, both sophomores who should combine for more than 1,800 yards rushing.

With all the talent around him, there’s no way Dobbs shouldn’t be successful. He’s got the, arm, feet and intelligence all good quarterbacks have, but can he be the best quarterback in the SEC?

The answer is yes.

Since arriving at Tennessee, Dobbs has done nothing but grow as a player. His freshman season wasn’t the best, but he learned from it and played better in year two.

In year two, he was a totally different player, and it had a lot to do with the talent around him. Dobbs was a good quarterback, one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC, but you can attribute a lot of Dobbs’ success to his talented running backs and wide receivers.

I’ve seen Dobbs play twice in person and he has a lot of growing to do as a player, which is encouraging considering how well he finished last year, and as his teammates grow around him, the potential for Tennessee’s offense to be one of the best in the league is easy to reach.

Is Dobbs the best quarterback in the SEC right now? No. But of all the starting quarterbacks in the SEC, he might have the highest ceiling, so he could be the best come November.

And if he is, the Vols could be playing for the SEC championship.

Next: Top 15 QB's With The Most To Prove in 2015

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Can Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs be the best QB in the SEC?

By Logan Shaw | Jul 18, 2015

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