The clear narrative entering the summer months is that true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon is leading the Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback battle.

Most of the intel this offseason has pointed to Brandon, who turned 18 earlier this week, being the favorite to win the job following a strong showing in spring practice.

And because the internet is the way it is, this narrative has led to plenty of folks, including some national media members, already writing off redshirt freshman George MacIntyre.

This battle, though, is far from over. And Vols head coach Josh Heupel is nowhere close to naming a stater.

Vols insider shares important update on Tennessee’s quarterback battle

VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Friday and provided some important context on where Tennessee’s quarterback stands this summer.

“Faizon Brandon did some really good things in the spring,” said Hubbs. “George did good things in the spring. Both of them did some poor things in the spring, and now both of them are in a competition that will be decided after the second scrimmage in August. It won’t be decided before then — regardless of what speculation is out there in terms of who’s in the lead and all of that stuff.

“Josh Heupel — in a true quarterback competition, an off-season competition — he’s never named a starter before the second scrimmage of the preseason. He’ll name his starter after the second scrimmage of the [fall], just like he did a year ago with Joey Aguilar, and just like he did with Joe Milton and Hendon Hooker his first year at Tennessee. Both of those guys are competing. I think Faizon’s focus has been really good for a young player, which is not surprising, given his personality and the fact that he believes he can win the job… That doesn’t mean George has done bad things. George has done well, too. Both of those guys are working out, and both those guys are going to compete all summer long.”

“I think for George it’s more about what he does in 11-on-11 situations and scrimmage situations,” continued Hubbs. “Remember, he doesn’t have a lot of snaps under his belt. He knows the offense well. It’s going out and executing it in those situations. I think for George, the biggest key is the scrimmages. I think for Faizon, the biggest thing right now is continuing to grasp the offense and trying to mentally catch up to a guy who’s been in the system for a year. I think Faizon probably has a chance to help himself more this summer — because he’s had further to go from the mental side of things. And then I think it’s about who makes the most plays when you get into scrimmage settings to give you the best chance to win.”

Essentially, while Brandon showed that he has what it takes to win the job, the real battle hasn’t really even started yet.

Both quarterbacks will go into fall camp with an equal chance to win this job. Now, it still may end up being Brandon who wins it, but it far from a guarantee that he’ll be the guy. After all, he’s still a young quarterback. Even if he proves to be a future Hall of Famer, he’s going to go through some growing pains — it’s part of the growth process. If Brandon has a subpar first scrimmage in fall camp, and MacIntyre has the best scrimmage he’s ever had, we’ll see the narrative completely flip overnight.

So in other words, let’s not write off MacIntyre just yet. No one has won the job yet, and that won’t be changing before August gets here.