The good news here is that Tennessee Vols quarterback commit Faizon Brandon has consistently said that he's 'locked in' with UT and nothing is going to change his mind. The bad news? Well, it's that other teams don't care about that and they're still recruiting him.
Brandon is ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the country and Tennessee fans are dreaming of this kid running the offense down the road after Nico Iamaleava takes off for the NFL. However, in an interview with On3's Matt Ray, Brandon said that Alabama and LSU are still recruiting him pretty heavily. Yup, both Kalen DeBoer and Brian Kelly aren't ready to take no for an answer.
Alabama and LSU are working to flip 5-star Tennessee Vols commit Faizon Brandon
“LSU and Alabama both, they continue to try to recruit me heavily,” Brandon told Ray. “But I let them know that I’m 100 percent locked in. But I won’t break any bonds or burn any bridges or anything like that. Still want to just keep relationships, because you never know what can happen, so I don’t try to brush them off or anything like that. I just keep the relationship. But I tell them that I’m locked in with Tennessee, though.”
From the looks of it, Brandon has reassured Heupel and the Vols that nothing is going to change his mind. With that said, he's also keeping in contact with other schools just in case something changes down the road, which is fair.
In today's college football landscape, it feels like things change with coaching staffs far too often. This is a big reason why Brandon might keep speaking with schools, but again, he's adamant that his future is going to be in Knoxville.
Brandon has been on campus several times, including a recent unofficial visit. He's working to help Tennessee with its recruiting efforts too, which includes fellow 5-star playmaker Tristen Keys. The two were on unofficial visits with Tennessee over the weekend, which was definitely big for Heupel and his assistants.
Tennessee can sell Keys on playing for the next 4-5 years with Brandon. Keys is ranked the top wideout in the country for the '26 class, while Brandon is the No. 1 QB. Can you imagine those two working together? Yeah, it'd be something. Brandon will keep helping build the '26 group as a leader for the Vols. DeBoer and Kelly will keep recruiting him, but unless something shocking happens, their efforts won't end up paying off.