Tennessee football has a big question mark at the quarterback position heading into next season. As Joey Aguilar fights for eligibility, which he is out of by the current rules, the Vols are also weighing options of second-year George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon and a potential transfer.
If Tennessee does go the route of adding a portal signal caller to start next season, it’d make sense for Josh Heupel to try to reel in a big fish. The pitch is a strong one, too. UT can boast a lot of returning pieces after a productive season, the numbers Aguilar just put up and a pretty payday with a strong NIL fund.
As quarterback names continue to roll into the portal, there have been multiple to make mental notes of once it officially opens in January. The most recent is TCU’s Josh Hoover, who announced his intention to enter on Thursday night.
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“I want to thank my teammates for all of the memories that we’ve shared together,” Hoover wrote in a statement. “This place has allowed me to meet some of my best friends, and I will always be grateful for that. I’ve prayed about this and decided that I will be entering the transfer portal.”
Hoover is coming off his redshirt-junior season in which he threw for 3,472 yards, 29 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Tennessee should be plenty familiar with his skillset, as well, given he was a reported target that UT had circled in the spring portal after Nico Iamaleava transferred out of the program.
His timeline makes sense, as well. With MacIntyre and Brandon both extremely talented, but young, getting a player with one last year of eligibility makes the timing of handing the keys to one of those two in 2027 make a lot more sense.
Other quarterbacks that have announced they intend to transfer so far that would make sense include Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt and Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby.
