Josh Heupel is the best thing to happen to the Tennessee Vols in several decades.

When Heupel took over in 2021, in the immediate aftermath of the Jeremy Pruitt recruiting scandal that rocked the program, most folks in the media felt like it would be five or six years before the Vols would even fight for bowl eligibility.

Instead, Tennessee went to a bowl game in year one, won 11 games (and beat Clemson in the Orange Bowl) in year two, won nine games in year three, and went to the College Football Playoff in year four.

It’s gonna take Tennessee five years to get back to a bowl game. It did this to itself. Better start on a sequel to Decade of Dysfunction, @MarkNagi

— Barrett Sallee ?? (@BarrettSallee) January 21, 2021

Heupel and his staff essentially brought Tennessee football back from the dead.

Things haven’t been perfect for the Vols this season — there are certainly areas where Heupel and his staff need to improve. But even though a few results haven’t gone Tennessee’s way this season, the program is still on an upward trajectory. There’s been some huge positives for the Vols this fall — such as the development of the wide receivers — most importantly, Tennessee is doing extremely well on the recruiting trail (the Vols have three five-star recruits committed to their 2026 class).

Ultimately, though, this is still a results business (even though it’s foolish to judge a coach/program solely on results). And Heupel has to make some decisions this offseason to help improve Tennessee’s results moving forward.

Perhaps the most important decision for Heupel this offseason revolves around the quarterback position.

Josh Heupel must add another quality quarterback to Tennessee’s roster

The expectation is that Tennessee will enter the offseason with two scholarship quarterbacks — true freshman George MacIntyre and 2026 five-star recruit Faizon Brandon (who will sign with the Vols in December).

Most folks in the media expect redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger to enter the NCAA transfer portal following the season (though Merklinger hasn’t publicly addressed his plans for after the season).

Starting quarterback Joey Aguilar will be out of eligibility after the 2025 season. He’s not currently expected to seek an additional year of eligibility.

There’s absolutely no way Tennessee can go into next season with a redshirt freshman and a true freshman as their only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster.

“I think they have to find somebody,” said VolQuest’s Austin Price during an appearance on WNML on Wednesday. “The question is who can they go get to come in here and compete, or come in here and be a nice stabilizing force behind the scenes as someone who maybe wants to be a coach? We’ve seen that in the past — going to get somebody that’s serviceable, if things go awry, but is basically just kind of a de facto coach….how they handle the quarterback spot is going to be very, very intriguing.”

I think most fans and media analysts agree that Heupel has to add a transfer quarterback to the roster this offseason.

But I think Tennessee needs to take it a step further and target some of the top transfer options. And look, that’s nothing against MacIntyre or Brandon. Both of those players have unlimited upside. But neither have much experience (MacIntyre has attempted seven passes this season…he may get some work this weekend against New Mexico State — depending on the scoreboard).

I just don’t think Tennessee is in a spot where they can go into a season with that much inexperience at the quarterback position. They tried it in 2024 with Nico Iamaleava, Gaston Moore, and MacIntyre and it didn’t work out that well (the defense carried the team to the College Football Playoff while the offense put up just 25 points per game in SEC play).

MacIntyre and Brandon are obviously extremely talented, but no one knows how they’ll perform until they’re on the field on Saturdays in the fall. And even if they play to their potential, there are inevitably going to be freshman mistakes that are made (and those mistakes will probably happen in big moments). That’s not a criticism or a negative prediction, it’s just reality (and it’s not a bad thing — making mistakes is part of the development process).

If a player like South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers or NC State’s CJ Bailey hits the portal (or any talented quarterback with experience), I think Heupel and his staff would be extremely wise to evaluate and see if they’d be a good fit for Tennessee.

Heupel is doing a great job at Tennessee. He’s the right longterm answer for the Vols. But he has to make the moves this offseason that will help the program get back to the College Football Playoff next winter. Going into next season with freshmen quarterbacks as the only options may be too big of a risk for the Volunteers.

It’s not that MacIntyre or Brandon can’t get the job done — maybe one of them proves to be a Heisman contender next fall — it’s just that Tennessee can’t bank on that being the case. And if the Vols are truly going to be a contender in 2026, they need to make sure their quarterback room is as strong as possible. Otherwise, how can Tennessee expect to compete with the top programs in the sport?

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