One George MacIntyre development has Vols fans suddenly thinking very differently about Tennessee’s QB competition
Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon are battling for the Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback job.
The general feeling entering fall camp is that true freshman Faizon Brandon is the favorite over redshirt freshman George MacIntyre to win Tennessee’s starting quarterback competition — mostly due to Brandon’s limitless upside.
Nothing has happened in the first week of fall camp to change the outlook in the Vols’ quarterback battle — the first fall scrimmage will be the first real checkpoint in the competition — but one photo that was recently posted by a former Tennessee quarterback has fans thinking a bit differently about MacIntyre.
There was a lot of talk this offseason about MacIntyre’s weight and if he could put on enough pounds to withstand the rigors of playing in the SEC.
A series of photos posted by former Vols quarterback Erik Ainge on Sunday shows that MacIntyre has definitely bulked up.
I mean, those are some real gains by MacIntyre. He looks the part of an SEC quarterback.
“Erik Ainge put out pictures of him with his son and the quarterbacks from the last few years,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Monday. “And the picture of George last year in that picture and the picture of George this year in that picture is two different guys. He is dramatically bigger in the grand scheme of things.
“Now, again, he’s still skinny. … But he looks dramatically bigger than what he did last year — especially in the arms and even in the legs.”
“From all accounts, [MacIntyre] has had a nice strong start to fall camp,” added Price. “Now, at the end of the day, how you do in these scrimmages will likely dictate whether you’re the starting quarterback or not. The work in practice matters, and it’s a nice appetizer. But the main course of this competition will be decided in scrimmage work this Saturday and the following Saturday.”
Command of the offense will ultimately be the deciding factor in this quarterback competition, but the physical part matters, too.
But after seeing that photo of MacIntyre standing next to Brandon, I think it’s safe to say that the redshirt freshman quarterback’s weight is no longer a big concern.
