Tennessee QB Brian Maurer plans to enter NCAA transfer portal
Tennessee quarterback Brian Maurer announced via social media on Thursday that he plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. The redshirt sophomore, a four-game starter for the Vols in 2019, began preseason camp battling transfers Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton III and returning sophomore Harrison Bailey for the starting job and vowed to fight for his place. However, Maurer hasn’t been practicing after head coach Josh Heupel told him less than week into preseason camp he was having his reps trimmed, essentially ruling him out of the competition, and though sources told GoVols247 he is not yet officially in the transfer database, he’s now made public his future plans.
Maurer’s practice absences started the day after a cryptic, then-edited Instagram post on Aug. 10 in which he wrote: “They took my dream after 4 days .. that’s okay cause I’m a soldier. #18out” He skipped the practice before Tennessee’s first scrimmage, and after the scrimmage Heupel addressed his status, saying he “had an initial conversation with him at some point a few days ago, as far as the reps and how those things were going to be divided up.” The two met again the off day after the scrimmage, but Maurer didn’t return to practice after it.
The Vols are now down to the trio of Hooker, Milton and Bailey as their scholarship quarterbacks after dismissing freshman Kaidon Salter in June following his second off-field incident since joining the program in January. The touted former top-50 prospect, who was suspended in the spring and never participated in a practice at Tennessee, transferred to Liberty after going into the portal. Maurer will have up to three years plus a redshirt year after playing two-plus seasons at Tennessee.
Here is the message Maurer posted on Twitter in the graphic announcing his future plans:
“Vol nation,
“Thank you for allowing a kid from little Ocala, Florida to call this amazing place home for the last 2 1/2 years. Playing in front of 102,455 has been the biggest blessing I could have ever asked for. Tennessee truly has the best fans in the country. “I would also like to thank both staffs for the opportunity to compete at the highest of levels there is in college football.
“Thank you to Jeronimo Boche, Dr. Klenck and all of the other training staff members who have assisted me in staying healthy.
“To my former and current teammates, thank you for being the brothers I never had growing up. Thank you for being the best teammates every day and thank you for forming relationships that will last a life time. I wouldn’t want to shed blood, sweat and tears with anyone else. I will truly cherish it for the rest of my life.
“After a lot of thought and prayer I have decided to enter my name into the transfer portal and pursue other opportunities.”
Maurer appeared in 12 games over his Tennessee career, completing 37 of 81 passes for 550 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions, plus 97 yards and two touchdowns on 28 rushing attempts. He played in eight games as a freshman in 2019, starting against Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama and Kentucky, but suffered a concussion in the first half of the Mississippi State win and was knocked out of the Alabama game in the first quarter. He was benched at halftime of the Kentucky game as well.
In his first start against Georgia during a night game at Neyland Stadium, Maurer sparked Tennessee’s lifeless offense in the first half of an eventual 43-14 loss and finished 14-of-28 passing for 259 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. His first career touchdown pass was a bomb to Marquez Callaway for a 73-yard score and he threw a dart to Jauan Jennings later in the half. The next week he threw two interceptions in the first half against Mississippi State before getting flipped over, landing on his head and leaving the game, but he returned the next week and scored on a quarterback sneak against Alabama before a hard hit sidelined him early in that game.
Maurer was just 7-of-16 passing in the first half of the Kentucky game, when Guarantano came off the bench to lead the Vols to a 17-13 comeback win, and he completed just one of his three pass attempts in leading a field-goal drive in the second half of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Indiana.
As part of Tennessee’s quarterback carousel last season, Maurer made four appearances off the bench, playing late in the loss to Alabama and coming off the bench as the backup when Guarantano departed the Arkansas game. Maurer didn’t complete any of his four pass attempts in leading multiple unsuccessful drives as a 13-0 lead got away from the Vols in Fayetteville. He appeared in the Florida and Vanderbilt games as a change-of-pace quarterback, attempting one pass and getting two carries, taking one for a 22-yard gain against Vanderbilt, in those two games.
Maurer signed with Tennessee out of West Port High School in Ocala, Fla., as the lone quarterback the Vols signed in 2019. He was rated a three-star prospect and ranked the No. 482 overall player and No. 19 pro-style quarterback in the 247Sports Composite for the 2019 class. Maurer committed to Tennessee over Ohio State and West Virginia and enrolled early with the Vols in 2019.
