Just a few hours before Tennessee football takes the field against Syracuse in Atlanta to get the 2025 season underway, the Vols have released their first official depth chart of the year. While there are plenty of ‘ORs’ to be seen, Josh Heupel did name a backup and third-string quarterback behind Joey Aguilar.
QB2 will officially be Jake Merklinger, the redshirt freshman who was thought to have the best shot outside of Aguilar to win the starting job. True freshman George MacIntyre will serve as QB3 in his first year in Knoxville.
This comes after Heupel played coy in naming the backups during his Monday press conference.
“You guys will find out on Saturday when the depth chart comes out,” Heupel said with a smirk.
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Merklinger worked with the first team much more than MacIntyre during portions of practice open to the media this fall camp. However, MacIntyre continued to get better throughout camp and was accurate throwing the football during both open periods of practice and in the Vols’ first fall scrimmage.
Merklinger is a redshirt freshman who has a full year under his belt in Tennessee’s offense. He played very little as the Vols’ third-string quarterback a season ago, completing 6-of-9 passes for 48 yards. The full year of experience is certainly an advantage for Merklinger in the backup competition, though.
MacIntyre is a true freshman from the midstate. The 6-foot-5 signal caller was a four-star recruit and the No. 13 quarterback in the 2026 recruiting cycle according to the 247sports composite rankings. MacIntyre is clearly extremely talented, but being a true freshman makes it a challenge for him to gain a complete understanding of the offense and to climb up the depth chart in his first offseason.
