Tennessee’s starting quarterback battle was the hot topic on Saturday after the Vols’ first fall scrimmage.

And understandably so.

Nothing will have a bigger impact on how Tennessee’s 2026 season goes than quarterback play. And for now, it’s still unclear whether it’ll be redshirt freshman George MacIntyre or true freshman Faizon Brandon who gets the nod (the battle is tight, but I still think it’s trending toward Brandon being the guy).

Vols head coach Josh Heupel won’t name a starter until after Tennessee’s second fall scrimmage at the earliest.

Josh Heupel quietly drops quote that should have Vols fans fired up

Quarterback play, of course, isn’t the only thing that will impact how Tennessee’s 2026 season plays out.

The play of the defense under new Vols defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will also be key. Tackling, specifically, needs to be better than it was last season.

Tennessee tackled poorly at times last season, and some within the program believe it was because the Vols didn’t tackle enough in practice.

“One source told On3 that one of the biggest concerns among some within the program is that the practices throughout the entire year, not just the season, aren’t physical enough and that there’s not enough contact,” reported On3’s Chris Low last November.

Heupel told reporters on Saturday that more than 50 percent of Tennessee’s first scrimmage included tackling.

He also said that he believes the Vols have made a big jump from where the program was in the spring when it comes to tackling.

“Over 50 percent of it was tackling throughout the course of the day,” said Heupel. “Some good work. We’ve done a bunch of tackling during the course of our practices, too. We gotta continue to refine those skills — our eyes and our pad level. I think we’ve taken real steps as a program from where we started in spring to where we are now. Got three more weeks (until the season starts) where we gotta continue to improve before we get ready for week one.”

The new scheme under Knowles will obviously be important. But scheme doesn’t matter if tackles aren’t being made.

It sounds like tackling has been an emphasis for the Volunteers this fall, and it also sounds like the program has taken a big step forward in that area. Simply tackling better will make Tennessee much better defensively than what we saw last season.