Five-star freshman Faizon Brandon spoke with the media after his second spring practice and offered some insight into his first couple of practices at Tennessee. The North Carolina product was the headline of a strong 2026 class for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Vols. Many eyes are on the young quarterback to see where he stacks up against George MacIntyre and Ryan Staub. Brandon could potentially start from day one in Knoxville with a good spring and fall camp.
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When Brandon was asked whether he sees himself as still learning or competing to be the starter, he said:
“I feel like it’s just competing every day. Taking it day by day and just trying to learn and go out there and make everybody better. I feel like when everybody’s competing together, it makes, obviously, the whole room better. So I’ll just be competing every day and just taking it day by day and see where it leads.”
The jump to the college game has been noticeable for Brandon, who says the speed of play is a big adjustment compared to high school.
“I’ll say it’s definitely faster. I’d say a lot more, but I would say in a good way," said Brandon. "You’re just surrounded by great guys. Everybody was a five-star, four-star, everybody was highly ranked and stuff. So it’s just, I’d say you’re always surrounded by a lot of good guys.”
Faizon Brandon has looked good so far
Are we overreacting to two days of practice? Maybe, but it isn't a surprise that Brandon's don looks like the parat after only a couple of days. By all accounts, he looks physically ready to play at the SEC level, and he has done a good job with his throwing drills so far.
Brandon still has some catching up to do with the playbook, protection calls, and his progressions, which gives MacIntyre a bit of an edge. Physically, though, he’s already showing he’s ready for the college game.
With a long offseason ahead of us, we can definitely see Brandon start to make some very notable progress on the mental side of the game. By week one, he may be ready to be named QB1.