Tennessee football returned to Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon and they did it in front of fans in the 2026 Orange & White game. It was the first chance for Vol fans to watch the quarterback battle between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon.
Following the scrimmage, MacIntyre discussed his comfortability in the offense, the challenge of facing Jim Knowles’ defense and much more. Here’s everything MacIntyre said.
More From RTI: What Tennessee Freshman QB Faizon Brandon Said Following Orange & White Game
On what he needs to do between now and the start of fall camp to help win the job
“Just keep my relationships with the receivers. Over the spring, I feel like we installed most the whole offense so we have that to look at and watch throughout the offseason. We’ve got all these plays we’ve already ran, all this stuff to just continue to grow in and I thin going in it with the receivers and tight ends and running backs in the pass game as well. Getting that chemistry.”
On the nerves of playing in front of fans
“I agree with Ryan (Staub). Super grateful for Vol nation showing up. It was a great crowd and a lot of positive energy. I feel like we fed off that. That was our third scrimmage we had, technically. Kind of just that. Felt like another scrimmage with added fans, added energy.”
On if they accomplished as much this spring with a younger room compared to last spring
“For sure. I don’t think they held anything back schematically, at all. I think we actually grew in our scheme this year. There’s still a lot on the quarterback. Lot of different checks, kills, stuff like that. Obviously, very different room. Lots of new faces and stuff like that, but I feel like both groups did a really good job of learning their job and doing it well.”
On areas of growth over the course of spring
“I worked a lot on just trying to be perfect operationally, just pre snap and post snap. After the ball is snapped, you can be very defined with your eyes and feet. I feel like when those three things are put together, you can be very accurate with the ball and stuff like that.”
On his comfort level compared to last season
“I feel a good bit more comfortable. I think a lot of that growth happened between practice one and practice 15, not necessarily between now and last year. Just a lot more comfortable and a lot more clear visions, operationally, getting in the playbook and once you have 15 days stacked on top of each other everything felt really clear.”
On facing Tennessee’s new look defense under Jim Knowles
“Coach Knowles has really mastered surprise. I would also say, with the new defense there is very minimal complete busts throughout spring ball. You might expect guys running wide open a lot when you’re doing installs, but I think our DBs are really locked in with what they are doing and disguising stuff. I feel like the second half of spring ball, they really got good at disguising pressures and we had to really understand our protections and know where we’re hot and stuff like that.”
On how much it helped his game to see different disguises
“Coach Halzle said it all the time, presnap thoughts and post snap confirmation. If you’re not getting that every single play with Coach Knowles defense— there’s no guessing. So you really got to be right because they can show a lot of different things and I think all three of us really grew in that throughout the whole spring ball.”
