For the second straight season, Tennessee’s got a quarterback battle on its hands to decide its starting signal caller when the Vols take the field against Furman in early September. What’s different about this battle compared to last year’s is simply the timeline, though. As of Joey Aguilar’s court decision last week that will send him to the NFL, Tennessee’s battle has officially begun.
This time last year? Nico Iamaleava was still the Vols’ quarterback. UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar still wouldn’t even transfer to Tennessee for another 55 days if last year were this year. The big difference is that Tennessee has its three competitors in-house already, and they’ll be able to battle in both spring practice and fall training camp to earn the starting bid.
As many already know, the battle will come down to redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub. MacIntyre is the lone returning player among the trio, but he only threw nine total passes last season. Faizon Brandon is an extremely highly-touted five-star prospect, but he’s obviously entering his first year of college football as a whole. And while Staub has the most experience of the three, it came in very limited action at Colorado.
Tennessee’s quarterback battle will dominate the headlines over the next six months as the Volunteers climb towards the season.
With spring practice still more than two weeks away, it’s hard to name anyone as a frontrunner in the competition. Perhaps you could say that MacIntyre is the early favorite because of his one year of experience in the Vols’ offense, but he’ll still have to go out and win it. That would leave Brandon as the way-too-early X-Factor in the race.
ESPN’s Eli Lederman named Brandon as one of 14 freshman players who are facing the most pressure this offseason. While that might be a bit of hyperbole considering Tennessee does have MacIntyre on the roster already, Lederman lays out his argument as to why he picked him.
“The Vols built their 2026 recruiting class around Brandon and a vision of the 6-4 passer from Greensboro, North Carolina, as the program’s quarterback of the future,” Lederman writes. “But after a state court denied 2025 starter Joey Aguilar’s request for another year of eligibility, Tennessee could end up calling on Brandon to take charge of its offense as early as his freshman fall.”
Lederman does mention Staub and MacIntyre as having more experience than Brandon, “especially with the Vols starting down a daunting early season schedule in 2026.” But he also mentions what might happen if things don’t exactly get up and running for the Vols’ offense.
“If things go south early for Tennessee in 2026, Brandon’s turn could come sooner rather than later this fall,” Lederman writes.
MacIntyre and Brandon both have a ton of talent and were key pieces that Tennessee honed in on during the last two recruiting cycles. There’s really no sense in saying that one has the advantage over the other until things start to unfold on the field this spring. And even then, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the battle continue to seep into fall camp as Josh Heupel and his staff figure out the pecking order.
We’ll start to figure out just how each quarterback handles his business and the ongoing competition when the Vols take the field for spring training camp on March 16. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football coverage as the 2026 team readies to hit the field next month.
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