Josh Heupel isn’t ready to name a starting quarterback following the Vols’ first fall scrimmage on Saturday morning at Neyland Stadium. That is unsurprising as the battle rolls on but it is of note that Heupel doesn’t appear ready to whittle down the competition to just two quarterbacks.
“I don’t anticipate us dramatically changing the reps right now,” Heupel said following the scrimmage.
Back in 2021, the lone quarterback competition in Heupel’s tenure, the then first-year head coach whittled down battle throughout camp. He first eliminated Brian Maurer and then Harrison Bailey before Joe Milton III beat out Hendon Hooker to begin the season as a starter.
Freshman George MacIntyre is the winner of that development. The 6-foot-5 quarterback has been repping with the third string throughout fall camp during the open portions of practice but has steadily been getting better.
“I think George— we challenged him post spring ball in some of the areas that he had to grow, some of that physical, some of that fundamental and technique,” Heupel said. “You’ve seen a lot of that growth from him, and you’ve seen his level of play be dramatically different than where we finished spring ball. And that’s from day one of training camp, he’s had good presence, good control of what we’re doing. There’s some areas that he’s going to have to continue growing, as all of our players have to do at this point. But I really like what George has done so far.”
More From RTI: Everything Josh Heupel Said Following Tennessee’s First Fall Scrimmage
Jake Merklinger and Joey Aguilar have been at the top of the quarterback battle so far in fall camp. Merklinger brings a full year of experience in Tennessee’s system while Aguilar brings starting experience that no other quarterback in the competition has.
Aguilar is fighting an uphill battle have arrived at Tennessee following spring practice. With kickoff just three weeks away, the transfer by way of UCLA and Appalachian State has just eight practices in Tennessee’s system under his belt.
“With what we’re doing offensively in our installs, from protections to run games, controlling it, and what he’s seen on the other side of the football, how multiple he’s been here in the early part of training camp, I really like overall what he’s done,” Heupel said of Aguilar. “There’s still more for him within the structure and the details of it, but I like what he’s done.”
Tennessee was down a pair of projected starting receivers in Chris Brazzell and Braylon Staley Saturday. Heupel did say that Mike Matthews participated but he’s been in-and-out of practice in recent days and might have been limited. The low quantity of receivers makes it more difficult to assess the quarterbacks but there was plenty of other situational work to assess.
However, the always coach speaking Heupel was positive overall about his group following the first scrimmage.
