It turns out an 18-year-old quarterback can't come in right away and look like a Heisman Trophy contender.
This is what Tennessee and Josh Heupel are quickly learning, as freshman Faizon Brandon simply has not been able to play at a high level thus far in SEC action. It led to him getting benched vs. Auburn, with George MacIntyre now having the window open to grab the QB1 job and not lose it. It sucks for Brandon, but you can't blame him for the struggles of late.
If anything, we all need to bring back the offseason quarterback plan and realize the Vols played with fire, and it has come back to haunt them. How so? Let us explain.
Tennessee inserts backup QB George McIntyre. Faizon Brandon looked rough, that's for sure. Brandon leaves the game 3-for-8 passing for literally zero yards. That's hard to do.
— Justin Hokanson (@_JHokanson) October 3, 2026
Faizon Brandon would have seriously benefitted from a year behind a veteran QB
No one can argue with the fact that Brandon was rushed into the starting role too soon. This all could have been avoided had Tennessee brought in a stud veteran, which was the plan from the start. Once Joey Aguilar (more on that below) wasn't given an extra year of eligibility, the Vols went after Sam Leavitt hard.
Unfortunately, Leavitt committed to LSU to play for Lane Kiffin. He wasn't the only transfer QB the Vols swung and missed on, with Tennessee also showing interest in Brendan Sorsby, Anthony Colandrea, Beau Pribula and others. In the end, the Vols ended up signing Colorado transfer Ryan Staub, but come on, he was never going to win the QB1 job.
This led to MacIntyre and Brandon battling things out in fall camp, with 2024 signee Jake Merklinger entering the transfer portal and eventually signing with UConn. With things tight between G-Mac and Brandon, Heupel rocked with his 5-star true freshman, but the battle is now back in full force ahead of the Arkansas game.
Had Aguilar returned to Knoxville, everything would have been fixed for UT. He'd be the starting quarterback, throwing the ball all over the field in the same way he did last season for the Vols. Brandon learning from a player with Aguilar's experience would have done wonders for him this fall and winter.
Aguilar also could have potentially led the Vols past No. 1 Texas, which we hate even thinking about. Instead, he indeed was told by the NCAA that he had to leave campus, and here we are with the Vols facing a bit of a mess with the heart of the SEC schedule on the way. This impacts the whole team, but Brandon is the one suffering the most.
His confidence must have been through the roof after playing so well during the non-conference schedule, powering Tennessee to a 3-0 start. Now, things have flipped, and he has lost all of the swagger that he was playing with. That's tough to bounce back for anyone, especially a teenager in his first season of college ball.
Obviously, having Brandon be the face of the offense in 2026 was not the plan for Heupel and his staff, which is why they went all-in to bring Aguilar back, and then all-in to land a stud player like Leavitt. Instead, nothing went to plan and the Vols were forced to start a first-year playmaker in Brandon, and now another youngster in MacIntyre could end up taking over too. Had things gone differently, this kind of an issue could have been avoided - and Brandon is the one dealing with the negative consequences the most.
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