The biggest story surrounding the Tennessee Vols this offseason is easily the starting quarterback battle.

After 15 spring practices, there is no frontrunner in the battle. Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and true freshman Faizon Brandon — who have a combined nine career college pass attempts — will enter the summer months in essentially a dead heat.

Eventually, Vols head coach Josh Heupel will name a starter (probably near the end of fall camp). But the big question surrounding the competition isn’t just who will win the job, it’s how will the Vols’ offense operate in 2026 with an inexperienced starting quarterback?

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy details the “uncomfortable truth” about Tennessee football

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy suggested this week that Tennessee could be carried by the defense in 2026.

Tennessee finished with the No. 92 scoring defense in the nation in 2025 after finishing with the No. 7 scoring defense in 2024. The steep regression of the defense led to Heupel firing defensive coordinator Tim Banks this offseason and replacing him with former Ohio State and Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.

McElroy thinks a young quarterback combined with improved defensive play under Knowles could lead to Tennessee being led more by the defense than the offense this fall.

“No one’s won the (starting QB) job yet, and that’s okay,” said McElroy on Always College Football. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Because the uncomfortable truth right now is that this might be a team that is really led more so by their defense, potentially. That’s real. That’s a possibility. And this defense is going to be really, really valuable if the offense can hold up its end of the bargain.

“Because if you look at Ohio State, when (Jim) Knowles was there, they had Will Howard, they had a loaded skill group, and they could pour it on you [offensively] if they wanted to. Well, at Tennessee, maybe the offense, maybe they have a couple of growing pains. Maybe they’re a little more conservative offensively than they’ve been in the past, because we know Josh Heupel wants to run a high-octane offense, right? He wants to really ramp it up. But maybe with this defense and with this defensive staff, maybe that’s not necessary.”

“So the ceiling on this Tennessee team, I think, is very high,” added McElroy. “Also, the floor is very much to be determined. We’re going to watch this quarterback battle throughout the summer. We’re going to watch it in fall camp — probably more closely than just about any other SEC quarterback competition. It’s going to be very, very significant because it could be one of the most consequential quarterback battles in the country, and in the conference, outside of Tuscaloosa.”

There are almost certainly going to be some growing pains for whichever young quarterback wins the job — that’s a normal part of the development process for any young player.

But I don’t think Heupel is going to go ultra-conservative just because he has a young quarterback, or because he has a good defense. Heupel knows after getting blown out by Ohio State in the College Football Playoff in 2024 that you have to be able to score points in a hurry to win a national championship. It may not be required to win every game, but it has to be part of your arsenal.

McElroy may be right, this may be a team that’s carried by its defense. But if that’s the case, it won’t be because Heupel made the choice to go conservative — it’ll mostly be because the Vols have a young quarterback under center.