This summer, Tennessee football’s quarterback battle will rage on as Josh Heupel looks to decide who will lead his offense in the 2026 season. There are three primary options for the job. Redshirt-freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.
After the spring slate and ahead of fall camp, BetOnline has released odds for who will win the job. As of May 14, Brandon is the favorite at -150. MacIntyre is behind him at +110, and Staub does not have odds listed. The bet is determined by who is the starter for UT’s week one game against Furman.
If Brandon does win the job, it’d be the first true freshman to handle starting quarterback duties for the year under Heupel. The only other true freshman to start a single game under him at Tennessee was Nico Iamaleava, but it was only in the Citrus Bowl win over Iowa.
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Heupel has gone to a true freshman starter previously in his career, though. At Central Florida, he gave the keys to his offense to Dillon Gabriel in 2019. Gabriel started in 12 of 13 games and compiled a 9-3 record with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Heupel is adamant that the competition will leak into fall camp, though. He wants each option to take what they learned from spring ball and apply it over the summer. That includes what they put on film in the annual Orange and White Game to cap off spring camp.
“I do love the growth from that group,” Heupel said after the scrimmage. “I love the way that they competed with themselves, with each other. I love the way that they’ve grown every single day. Each of them maybe had a day where it was a little bit below what they had shown and their expectations, too. They responded and came back the next day and were a lot better. So, there’s a lot of positives, a lot of things that they and we have to work on as a football team.”
Tennessee’s first game of the year is set against Furman on September 5. Then, things heat up, and Heupel will need to find the signal caller he trusts. The Vols travel for a road game against Georgia Tech on September 12.
