Tennessee football’s biggest question mark heading into fall camp is the quarterback position. The Vols have three options to earn the starting job: redshirt-freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.
While the past couple of months have been quiet, it has been perhaps the most important stretch of the entire battle. While production on the practice field and in scrimmages during fall camp will determine the winner, UT head coach Josh Heupel is looking to see how his quarterbacks applied what they learned during spring camp to fall after digesting it over the summer.
“It is open,” Heupel said about the quarterback battle in the spring. “We had that conversation with all of them as we started the winter, when they all arrived here. Had that conversation again as we were wrapping up our winter before we got into spring ball. We’ve had a couple of those battles. You guys know that we always communicate with those guys openly, transparently, communicate with those guys together. Don’t expect a guy to be named here during the course of spring ball.
“I think it’s important that all the guys in that room learn and grow throughout the course of spring, also have a chance to go back in your summer months, digest it, reinstall and come back a much better player and compete and earn it in front of their teammates as you get into training camp.”
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MacIntyre enters the quarterback battle as the most experienced in the room within the Tennessee offense. He was the third-string quarterback a year ago with the Vols, getting the chance to sit back and digest college football and Heupel’s plan of attack. In his time on the field, he completed 7-of-9 passes for 69 yards.
His most direct competition is Brandon. He enters as a five-star freshman and the No. 3 overall recruit in the nation by 247. He’s had time since high school to learn the playbook, but it’s a different beast adjusting on campus. He hit the ground running in the spring, though, and is poised to be a true threat to win the starting job.
So far, it seems like Staub winning the job would be a decent upset. He has the most college experience, but struggled during his time at Colorado. He threw for 427 yards with three touchdowns and four picks last year.
