Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon are competing for the Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback job.

Brandon is viewed by many right now as the leader, but MacIntyre is still very much in the fight and could still win the job.

The expectation is that Vols head coach Josh Heupel will name a starter after Tennessee’s second fall scrimmage in August.

Now, whoever wins the job in August may not be who ends up being the best option (Joe Milton won the job during fall camp in 2021, but it was Hendon Hooker who took a stronghold on the job during the season).

But either way, we’ll likely know who the Vols’ starting quarterback for the 2027 season is going to be based on the way the 2026 season plays out. And whichever quarterback isn’t the guy will be a strong candidate to enter the NCAA transfer portal (that’s just college football these days).

And if that’s what happens — no one actually knows right now how it’ll play out — it’ll leave Tennessee with a lack of quarterback depth (we’ve seen how hard it is to land a non-starting quarterback via the portal).

Josh Heupel was thinking ahead about the quarterback situation

Heupel must’ve been thinking ahead about his quarterback situation after the 2026 season because he already has a good solution to the potential problem in place.

The Vols targeted 2027 quarterback Derrick Baker early in the recruiting process despite the fact he was hurt and missed most of his junior season.

Tennessee continued to recruit Baker when other programs quit calling.

“There were a couple teams that backed off (because of the injury) and Tennessee picked it up,” said Baker to On3 this week. “Every day, they were calling, FaceTiming, I was able to get out to a couple more games while I was injured. They just picked up the recruiting overall.”

Even though Baker, who committed to Tennessee in February, will be a true freshman in 2027, he’s a good option to serve as the primary backup quarterback due to his build.

The Georgia native is 6-foot/235 pounds. He’s athletic enough to make plays with his feet, and that’s important for a true freshman. Baker is already big enough to withstand the hits from SEC defenders. And since he won’t have the offense completely down as a true freshman (that’s true for every young quarterback), he’ll likely need to rely on his legs at times if he plays in 2027. Most true freshmen aren’t in a position to do that because they’ll get broken in half by a future first round linebacker. Baker, though, is built like a fire hydrant — he may do as much damage to defenders as they do to him.

Finding a backup quarterback in college football isn’t easy these days. And the formula for landing one every offseason is different. Unfortunately, the formula that’s required that particular year is nearly impossible to predict a year in advance.

Heupel was wise to target Baker, knowing that he can not only be a potential future starter for the Vols, but he can also serve in an important, albeit underappreciated, role in 2027.