‘Everybody knows that’ – Josh Heupel is suddenly facing a tough situation and everyone in college football is keeping an eye on his next move
Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel is suddenly facing a difficult situation.
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is facing a tough situation right now.
And everyone in college football is keeping a close eye on how he handles it.
Heupel has two extremely talented quarterbacks in freshman Faizon Brandon and sophomore George MacIntyre. Brandon started the first five games of the season, but he was benched last week after he was ineffective in the first half against Auburn (Brandon is also dealing with a shoulder injury that affected his play).
MacIntyre replaced Brandon in the second quarter of the Vols’ 24-14 win against Auburn. All three of the Vols’ touchdowns came with MacIntyre in the game (all three were DeSean Bishop rushing touchdowns).
On3 reported on Tuesday that MacIntyre will start at quarterback for Tennessee on Saturday in Fayetteville against Arkansas.
(Heupel did not confirm On3’s report during the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday.)
Josh Heupel’s QB decision will have a big impact on the transfer portal
At this point, it’s unclear what Tennessee’s quarterback situation is going to look like the rest of the season. Both quarterbacks still have a lot to prove.
Everyone in college football, however, is watching Tennessee’s quarterback situation because they know the Vols will likely only be able to keep one of their young quarterbacks at the end of the season.
So not only does Heupel have to figure out how to win each week, he also has to figure out which quarterback he wants to keep at the end of the year.
“They (Tennessee) know those ripple effects (with the QB decision), and they know that everybody else knows those ripple effects,” said the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks on The Buck Reising Show this week. “And that’s why you saw some tension a little bit with Josh Heupel on Monday. He knows the best thing for the team and for himself and everybody else is just to decide week to week who gives [Tennessee] the best chance to win, and then put that quarterback out there. And then once that game is over, you take that information, reevaluate, and do the same thing the next week.
“And next week is Alabama. George MacIntyre, if he plays well and they win (against Arkansas), I would think he would start against Alabama. If he plays poorly, especially if they lose, they probably go back to Faizon Brandon. And that has ripple effects down the road because we all assume one of these guys is going to be their starter in the stretch run of this season, and then that same guy will be the starter next season. And the guy who’s not the starter will go in the transfer portal in January. Everybody knows that, and so Josh Heupel knows any time he does one of these things (makes a QB switch), it at least has the feel that it’s a permanent decision, even though it isn’t.”
What makes this so tough is that there’s no guarantee that either quarterback emerges as the guy this season. Both quarterbacks are still very young and still very much developing. In a perfect world, Heupel is able to take his time with both players, let them develop the correct way, and then see which one emerges over the course of a couple of seasons. But unfortunately, that’s not how things work in the transfer portal era.
And because that’s the reality of college football right now, there’s a doomsday scenario in play where neither of these quarterbacks takes a stronghold on the job by the end of the season.
“If one of these quarterbacks is your starter down the stretch, and you get to 9-3, then that’s your best case scenario because that’s the guy that can win for you next year,” said Sparks. “The worst case scenario is that George is fine this week, but then they get beat against Alabama. They go back and forth (between quarterbacks) for a few games. They get beat by LSU, and at the end of the year, you say, ‘Are either of these guys my starter next year?’ And then you probably have to dip into the portal to get a third guy.”
There is no handbook on how to manage quarterback situations in the transfer portal. It’s tricky for everyone involved (which is why I think head coaches need a little grace in these situations — quarterback evaluations are tough even for the best in the business).
It’ll be interesting to watch how Heupel threads the needle of trying to win each week while also trying to find the best quarterback for Tennessee’s future.
And while he does that, everyone from rival programs to high school recruits to potential transfer additions to Tennessee’s own locker room will be keeping a close eye on how it all unfolds.
