The narrative this summer has been that true freshman Faizon Brandon is ahead of redshirt freshman George MacIntyre in the Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback battle.

“[I] had a chance to talk with some of the guys, some of the coaches, this week over there on campus,” said On3’s Chris Low in May on Rocky Top Insider’s The RTI Low-Down. “I know there’s a lot of attention on the quarterback. Is it going to be Brandon? Is it going to be George MacIntyre? I think Brandon is the guy unless he does not play well in preseason — if he just has a bad camp — or if MacIntyre just plays lights out. I think coming out of the spring, the way I would put it is Brandon has positioned himself nicely to be the starter. He still has to go lock it down.”

Vols head coach Josh Heupel hasn’t indicated that either player is “ahead” at this point, and he likely won’t name a starter until after Tennessee’s second fall scrimmage, so it’s not like anything is settled in this battle. Still, multiple reports have indicated that Brandon seems to have the edge ahead of fall camp.

And one reason that’s the case is because Brandon seemed to play “free” during spring practice, whereas MacIntyre, who probably sees this as his only opportunity to win the job at Tennessee, wasn’t as quick to process what he was seeing (that’s probably because he was trying to be perfect, and that usually leads to a player being just a bit slow to process, which leads to missed passing windows).

“I think that Faizon has managed the offense pretty well,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs in April. “Now, he’s still got a long ways to go, and so does George. But I think Faizon’s ability to manage early in his career, to execute the huddle, execute the run game pretty well, and make decisions throwing the football — his talent is very obvious. I mean, he oozes with talent. He’s got size. He can throw it — all of that’s there. I think his ability to manage the game, and how much he has grasped the offense early in his career, is probably what has helped him.”

MacIntyre can still win the job, but he’ll need to play confident and free in fall camp.

George MacIntyre is getting a resource that will help him a lot this fall…if he chooses to use it

VolQuest reported on Monday that MacIntyre will attend the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana later this month.

He’ll be the first Tennessee quarterback at the event since Joe Milton in 2023.

I think this can be a huge deal for MacIntyre, simply because he’s going to get a chance to talk with Tennessee legend Peyton Manning one-on-one at some point.

And that conversation will be one of the most important conversations of MacIntyre’s football career.

MacIntyre is still a young player, and development is never linear. Some players hit the ground running and face adversity later in their career. Others go through it earlier in their career.

Unlike Brandon — who arrived on Rocky Top with no expectation of winning the starting job in 2026 — MacIntyre likely views this as his window. If he doesn’t win the job now, entering the transfer portal after the 2026 season and starting over elsewhere becomes a real possibility. That kind of pressure can weigh heavy on a young quarterback. Brandon, as a true freshman, can play free and easy without worrying about the outcome of the competition. That’s not the case for MacIntyre, and it probably explains why he didn’t play as clean or as efficiently as he’s capable of during the spring.

Peyton knows adversity as well as anyone. He still holds the record for interceptions thrown by a rookie in the NFL. In today’s NFL, Peyton might have been benched before he could even set that record, and his entire career trajectory could have changed. But going through that adversity early helped him become a Hall of Famer and a two-time Super Bowl champion.

That’s a valuable resource for MacIntyre. Having those conversations with Manning and resetting his mental focus could allow the redshirt freshman quarterback to head into fall camp as a confident player who is only thinking about competing in the moment.

MacIntyre, as Hubbs said in March, has to just “let it rip” this fall.

“The challenge for George, because the expectation and the pressure is on George, [is that] George has got to play within the confines, he’s got to take care of the football, but he’s also got to rip it,” explained Hubbs. “He can’t be checkdown Charlie. He’s going to have to push the ball and drive the ball down the field, because that’s the expectation, and that’s what he’s coached to do.”

It’s the same thing that Vols offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joey Halzle preached when he joined Tennessee’s staff in 2021.

“We’re going to let you rip it all over the field,” said Halzle after he was hired at Tennessee in 2021. “We’re going to put a lot on you and, to me, I would say that is quarterback-friendly because we’re not going to hold your hands. We’re going to teach you, we’re going to mold you into the best that you can be, and then we’re going to turn you loose to go play ball on Saturdays. We don’t make guys play scared. We don’t make them afraid to make mistakes. Go out there, cut it loose.”

I think one conversation with Peyton Manning has the potential to change MacIntyre’s entire mental outlook heading into fall camp. Maybe it resets things and he turns this competition back in his favor. Or maybe it doesn’t, and Brandon still wins the job. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.

But the Manning Passing Academy is going to be a much bigger deal for MacIntyre than anyone realizes right now.

It’s just up to MacIntyre to apply the lessons he learns from Peyton.