You know what, good for the youngster. When Faizon Brandon lost his starting job to second-year signal-caller George MacIntyre, he could have easily been down in the dumps and phoned things in for the rest of the season. In the eye-opening win against Kentucky, Brandon reminded everyone that he's going to be ready to step up whenever his number is called.
In the 34-6 victory, Brandon didn't see a ton of action, but goodness, he sure took advantage of his playing time. First, Brandon turned heads when he broke free for a 29-yard run, which helped put up three points on the board for the Vols.
In the fourth quarter, though, Brandon had over 100,000 people at Neyland Stadium off their seats after he came in, took a snap, flipped the ball to Mike Matthews, with the stud receiver breaking free for a 24-yard touchdown. Sure, it may have looked simple on Brandon's end, but the play was executed to perfection, with the 5-star QB all smiles after the score was posted. Talk about a special moment for him, which he deserved.
Faizon Brandon deserves all the praise he's getting from Tennessee fans right now
In today's college football landscape, it could have been easy for Brandon to immediately have a bad attitude and not give his all in practices. However, Josh Heupel made it quite clear on several occasions that he was going to continue to rely on Brandon to step up whenever his number was called. Heupel did tell us all that he was going to lean on both QBs the rest of the way.
While Brandon only attempted one pass on the night, and it was just a flip to Matthews, these are moments that are worked on throughout the week, and they need to work flawlessly on Saturdays. Both times Brandon was able to deliver with his arm and legs, you could tell he had a chip on his shoulder.
Josh Heupel on using Faizon Brandon tonight: He can throw it, and, we trust him in that way. It was just an opportunity to use Faizon in a unique way.
— GoVols247 (@GoVols247) November 8, 2026
This is a young man who signed with the Vols as one of the top players in the country for the 2026 class, and who also won the starting job over MacIntyre during fall camp. In his first three games, Brandon looked like a 5-star freshman, no question, living up to the hype.
Unfortunately, the wheels fell off a bit once SEC play got here, which opened the door for G-Mac to start the last four games, including this destruction of Kentucky. Tennessee fans hadn't seen Brandon in action since the win over Auburn, but he did everything that was asked of him and then some in the victory against the Wildcats.
This was a statement win for the Vols, who should now fly into the Top 10 of both the AP Poll and the CFP rankings. It's going to take everyone to keep executing at a high level for Tennessee to go 3-0 to close out the regular season and lock in a spot for the College Football Playoff. The list includes Brandon, who keeps showcasing that he's a total team player for UT.
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