Faizon Brandon is officially the Tennessee Vols’ starting QB, and another SEC coach has a very strong take on him as a player
The Tennessee Volunteers named true freshman Faizon Brandon as the program’s starting quarterback on Monday morning. Brandon is a former five-star recruit from Greensboro, NC.
True freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon will be Tennessee’s starting quarterback when the Vols open the 2026 season on September 5 against Furman.
The North Carolina native is a high upside player who had a strong spring and an even stronger fall camp.
But no one knows how Brandon will actually perform on Saturdays in the SEC. Nothing is guaranteed performance-wise just because he won the job in fall camp.
However, if comments that were made by another SEC coach are accurate, then it could be a big true freshman season for the former five-star recruit.
SEC coach thinks Faizon Brandon was the best quarterback in the 2026 recruiting class
Brandon was rated by Rivals as the No. 5 quarterback in the 2026 class, and by 247Sports as the No. 3 quarterback.
Houston’s Keisean Henderson and Vanderbilt’s Jared Curtis are the two quarterbacks who were unanimously rated ahead of Brandon (Curtis, who will turn 20 in December, was originally supposed to be in the 2025 class before reclassifying).
One SEC coach, though, told On3’s Chris Low that he thinks Brandon is the best quarterback in the 2026 class.
“I talked to another coach at another SEC school this year, and he told me that he thought Brandon was the best quarterback in this class — the 2026 class — that they’d seen,” said Low on the RTI-Low Down podcast. “And probably the most complete package [because of] the way he throws the football and the way he’s able to move around and make plays.”
Again, Brandon has to go out and prove it on Saturdays, but he’s a player that has the talent to be a star not just in college, but in the NFL, too.
“Faizon Brandon is a special talent, one who is just scratching the surface of how good he’s going to be at the next level,” said 247Sports’ Tom Loy last December. “The 6-4, 200-pounder is elite in every sense of the word….Long term, I fully believe he’s a guy who will take college football by storm in the coming years. I see a potential Heisman winner and possibly the No. 1 overall pick one day if he reaches his potential and ceiling. He’s wired the right way, he’s ready for the spotlight, and he’s going to be incredible in college.”
Brandon won back-to-back state titles at Grimsley High School. He returned last season after a hand injury kept him out for much of the regular season, despite many urging him to shut it down, to lead his team in the state playoffs. Brandon is a hard worker, he’s been a winner at every level, and he has elite physical talents.
There will inevitably be some tough learning moments for the true freshman this fall, but Vols fans should be extremely excited about what he could potentially accomplish on Rocky Top.
