Tennessee held its lone open practice of the preseason Sunday — roughly a two-hour affair inside Neyland Stadium.

Much of the focus on Day 3 was drill work and fundamentals, but in 14 periods, the Vols also did lots of two-spotting 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 work.

Here are the VolQuest.com observations, bullet point style. It bears repeating, but one practice is a small sample size.

Remember that, folks.

*** QB battle marches on: While Keller Chryst had his moments (a corner route throw to Brandon Johnson was his best pass of the day), it was quite clear who the top quarterback on the field was Sunday. Jarrett Guarantano threw strikes in both pass-skeleton work, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11s. Compared to a year ago, JG was much better with his footwork and decision-making. He didn’t hold onto the ball for forever and he routinely found his check-downs quickly. He had one really poor throw (was baited by Alontae Taylor) but he responded with a bomb for a score on his very next attempt. That’s growth. He didn’t hang his head after a poor pass. He got right back in the huddle and made a play.

Chryst clearly knows the playbook, but he struggles on intermediate and deep throws to the hash. The arm strength simply isn’t there. OC Tyson Helton got on him about his progressions several times and Chryst also displayed some of the same accuracy issues that plagued him at Stanford.

Ultimately, no one expects Jeremy Pruitt to announce a starter anytime soon, but JG certainly took a step forward in the race Sunday.