The Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback competition is in its very early stages.

Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub are competing for the starting job.

Spring practice is obviously important when it comes to who will win the competition, but no decisions will be made until fall camp.

So while each player wants to perform well this spring, it’s not like a few hiccups in March or April are going to determine who wins or loses this job.

But it’s still worth keeping up with each quarterback’s progress as spring progresses.

Insider shares the latest on Tennessee’s quarterback competition

WNML’s Riley Haltom joined SportsTalk this week to discuss what he’s seen recently during the periods of practice that have been open to the media.

“I noticed in some of the earlier practices, Faizon Brandon, just occasionally here and there, you get a ball that’s placed pretty poorly,” said Haltom. “Just behind the receiver — too high, too low, that kind of thing. The placement of the ball was just not ideal. Well, in yesterday’s routes on air portion of practice, it was that (poor placement) turned up to about 1,000. Partially, it was just some pretty bad drops by some of the receivers. Radarious Jackson is one that had several drops, but [he] also had maybe the best catch of the day — at least in the portion that we saw.

“Faizon Brandon just was struggling a little bit yesterday. That’s my main takeaway from the red zone routes on air. Just not a lot of plays where he looked super in sync with the receivers. A lot of too high, too low, a lot of [throws] behind the receiver. I think that’s the main thing I want to see him improve on, is getting a little bit better and just leading his receiver just a little bit. Because it’s been a lot of receivers reaching back as they’re trying to go for these balls. So that was my main takeaway. Outside of Faizon Brandon, Staub is still very accurate, but still lacks that zip that MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon have on their passes. And then MacIntyre, I think, is clearly the one. He looks the most comfortable. He’s hitting the most passes in stride. Everything looks more fluid with George MacIntyre, and maybe he was also helped by the fact that he had the top three wide receivers that he was throwing to on most reps. MacIntyre [has] very good timing and very good anticipation. I think that’s the thing that probably sticks out to me the most about MacIntyre, right now, is that his anticipation on some of these throws is perfect. I mean, the timing on some of these outside breaking routes, it’s just like, you can tell this guy has put in work with these guys to get that timing down.”

It’s no surprise to hear that MacIntyre currently looks the best — he has the most experience in this offense. And he’s had more time to build chemistry with the wide receivers.

Brandon, on the other hand, is still building that chemistry. And that’s the most likely reason that his throws have been a little off in spring practice.

It’s worth noting that VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs praised Brandon’s accuracy earlier this offseason.

“The thing that I fell in love with Faizon Brandon when he camped at Tennessee in back to back years is I thought he was extremely accurate,” said Hubbs in February. “You can’t read at a camp setting what [a player’s] processing is and all of those types of things, because you’re playing one on one, that type of thing. But I thought he was extremely accurate with the ball — both on the move and in the pocket. So I was impressed there.”

As Brandon continues to build chemistry with his new teammates, we should see the timing improve.

But it seems clear that MacIntyre, at least for now, is leading the charge in this battle.

Brandon still has plenty of time to close the gap, but it’ll be important for him to take some big strides over the next few months if he’s going to have a chance to be QB1 when the 2026 season gets underway.