Recent history offers a telling clue about Tennessee QB battle between Faizon Brandon and George MacIntyre, and it’s a bad omen for one QB
The Tennessee Volunteers are in the midst of a starting quarterback competition this summer between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon.
The Tennessee Vols are in the midst of a starting quarterback competition this summer between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon.
Some reports have suggested that Brandon is the leader ahead of fall camp, but no decisions have been made and both quarterbacks will have an equal opportunity to win the job in August (the expectation is that head coach Josh Heupel will name a starter after Tennessee’s second fall scrimmage).
“Faizon Brandon did some really good things in the spring,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs earlier this month. “George did good things in the spring. Both of them did some poor things in the spring, and now both of them are in a competition that will be decided after the second scrimmage in August. It won’t be decided before then — regardless of what speculation is out there in terms of who’s in the lead and all of that stuff.”
While we don’t know who will win the job yet, one quarterback in this battle may have received a potential bad omen this week.
George MacIntyre’s invite to the Manning Passing Academy isn’t a sign that he’s going to be the guy for the Vols in 2026
The annual Manning Passing Academy is taking place this week in Thibodaux, LA (2026 is the 30th year of the event).
MacIntyre was the only Tennessee quarterback invited.
Some fans have taken that as a sign that MacIntyre will be the guy this fall.
The invite, however, could actually be a bad omen for MacIntyre.
A year ago, Ole Miss quarterback Austin Simmons, who was the returning starter for the Rebels, was invited to the Manning Passing Academy. Ole Miss transfer addition Trinidad Chambliss, who previously played at Ferris State, was also initially invited to the event before being uninvited because the Mannings didn’t need two Ole Miss quarterbacks in attendance.
“I invited Trinidad to the Manning Passing Academy last year,” said Archie Manning this week. “I had heard about him — he was a quarterback at Ferris State — so I invited him and he accepted. I did something really bad. We had Austin Simmons, who was going to be the starter at Ole Miss, I had him coming, and I didn’t need two from a school, so (former Ole Miss offensive coordinator) Charlie Weis Jr kind of helped me uninvite Trinidad. And I wanted to make sure we invited him this year.”
Simmons began the 2025 season as the starter at Ole Miss, but Chambliss took hold of the job early in the season after Simmons suffered an ankle injury.
Chambliss will return as the Rebels’ starting quarterback this fall. Simmons, meanwhile, transferred to Missouri after the 2025 season.
Now, obviously what happened at Ole Miss last season won’t have any impact on Tennessee’s starting quarterback competition.
But the Rebels’ quarterback situation last season is a reminder that MacIntyre getting an invite to the Manning Passing Academy while Brandon didn’t isn’t a sign that MacIntyre is the better option for Tennessee. MacIntyre could still end up being the guy — again, nothing has been settled yet — but the invite is essentially meaningless in this battle.