It really seemed like this was all settled leading up to Tennessee going up against Arkansas.
On Tuesday night, ESPN insider Pete Thamel dropped the bomb that George MacIntyre is going to be getting the start over Faizon Brandon this weekend against the Razorbacks. Apparently this is news to head man Josh Heupel.
Despite multiple reports coming in that G-Mac is going to be QB1 for Week 6, Heupel didn't confirm that during Wednesday's SEC coaches tele-conference, instead leaving things pretty unclear. Per Heupel, Brandon continues to work through his shoulder injury, but he's not at a point yet to go into detail on the QB situation moving forward. Come on, man. If MacIntyre is the guy, then why not publicly give him some backing before kickoff? This just feels a bit unneeded at this point.
Josh Heupel on Tennessee QB situation after George MacIntyre was reportedly named starter this week for Arkansas:
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) October 7, 2026
"I know there's going to be questions about the QB here... but I'm not going into great detail.
"I addressed it on Monday, Faizon is going through some injury…
Josh Heupel still won't confirm if George MacIntyre or Faizon Brandon will start vs. Arkansas
Just to be clear, we've got nothing but love for Heupel. He's a fantastic head coach, and he'll have either G-Mac or Brandon ready to rock to help Tennessee take down Arkansas. With all of that said, why keep the speculation going?
Thamel is one of the most trusted reporters in the business. You'd have a better shot at getting struck by lightning than to see one of his reports be inaccurate these days. With Heupel still keeping everyone guessing on the QB1 job for the first SEC road game of the year, however, it's really not fair to MacIntyre OR Brandon.
With the former, how hard would it have been for Heupel to simply say, "George is going to be our guy this weekend, and we've got full trust in him. He's capable of running this offense at a high level, and while Faizon is too, he's not quite at 100 percent, so next man up."
There, I did it for you, Josh.
Instead of that being the case, even more speculation is going to arrive on whether or not MacIntyre is going to start or not. Maybe no one should be surprised if Brandon ends up healing his bum shoulder and leads the offense out onto the field in Fayetteville. That still seems unlikely, but that door will continue to be open until Heupel just comes out and names/confirms who his starter is for this one.
MacIntyre ultimately leading the offense out onto the field makes the most sense, as he, right now, gives the Vols the best chance to win. That's not a knock on Brandon or anything, but if he's injured and a bit shaken up confidence wise, then Heupel simply needs to rock with the more experienced quarterback.
This will all get resolved within the next few days, as the hope is that if MacIntyre indeed is the guy to take on Arkansas, Heupel will make an announcement and be done with it. The fact that it hasn't come in yet, and he further delayed things with his most-recent comments is just a tad disappointing.
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