Does Jarrett Guarantano offer hope on an otherwise dark day for Vols?

There was plenty of hype coming in — and some potential hope coming out of Tennessee's 15-9 loss to South Carolina.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Guarantano showed both some good and some bad in a losing effort that left coaches and players around the program thinking positively.

"I thought he was incredible," offensive lineman Brett Kendrick said. "I don't know what else he could have done. What else can we ask him to do? He ran the ball when we needed it. He took some hits. I thought his poise was incredible at the end of the game right there in his first start. We came up just a little short, but he's special. He's got a lot of talent and he was huge for us."

Guarantano was 11 of 18 for 133 yards in his first start. In the first half, the New Jersey native made some plays with his legs to extend drives and put Tennessee in scoring position. This moment is something he has been prepping for for a long time.

"I couldn't sleep last night and all morning I couldn't eat anything," Guarantano said. "I was very nervous and very anxious and I think being able to do something like this that I dreamed of truly fulfilled my dreams. I'm thankful for this opportunity."

Guarantano wasn't asked to do much in the first half. He was 5-7 for 54 yards. He also was able to make some positive plays on the ground, but that was taken away in the second half.

"They were playing the zone read more," Guarantano said. "Playing me more and loading the box. That was about it. You really saw them scraping to me outside and whenever I had a zone read pull out, the linebacker was right there waiting for me."

The Vols led the entire first half and didn't trail until less than six minutes to go in regulation. Yet an inexperience signal caller in his first start was tasked with a rally down six with just 1:13 on the clock. That's when Guarantano went to work with his best play of the day.

"It was obviously a difficult situation with the one minute drill and not timeouts," head coach Butch Jones said. "I thought he was very poised and very calm. He made some plays with his legs. I'll have to go back and watch the video, but in terms of showing poise in your first start, I think there were plenty of things to build upon."

Down the field went Guarantano leading the Vols 73 of the 75 yards needed. Some clutch passes to Marquez Callaway and a 39 yard completion to Brandon Johnson had Tennessee on the cusp of a come from behind last second win. On the last play, Guarantano rolled right and fired for Johnson again. This time it went through Johnson's hands and South Carolina stormed the field in victory.

A distraught Guarantano sat on the turf and that's when his counterpart from South Carolina, Jake Bentley came over for a nice show of sportsmanship.

"I was very upset," Guarantano said. "I remember Jake from when I was younger. I met him my freshman year of high school. He was just telling me it was a great game and a great competition. I have a lot of props for him."

The bad for Guarantano was he was sacked seven times on the afternoon. He appeared to hold the ball to long at times and he knows he will have to be better going forward if Tennessee is to score it's first touchdown since the first half against UMass.

"Some miscommunication at times," Guarantano said. "Some things I could have done better and some things the entire offense could have done better. I think some quick game will help, but I think there were some things that I could have done better whether that's scrambling or getting up field or whatever it was."

Guarantano shouldn't be nervous going forward. He took some big hits and kept coming back for more.

"After the first snap I was good," Guarantano said. "I'm getting comfortable out there and I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing and it can only go up."

And the offense could use and uptick of momentum. Afterall, they have only scored 29 points in their first three conference games.