Josh Heupel has no choice but to use both Tennessee QBs early in season opener against Furman, and the reason why is mostly his fault
The Tennessee Vols will name a starting quarterback for the season opener against Furman, but both quarterbacks will likely play early in the game.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel is expected to name a starting quarterback sometime next week for the Vols’ season opener against Furman.
Most believe that true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon will be the choice.
But even if Heupel strongly believes that Brandon is the best option to serve as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, he’s almost certainly going to play redshirt freshman George MacIntyre early in the game against Furman.
He really has no choice…and it’s mostly his own fault.
Tennessee needs both quarterbacks to have as much experience as possible before playing Georgia Tech in Week 2
Heupel will need to play both quarterbacks with the first-team offense against Furman to make sure both players have some reps in the event that things get weird in Week 2 on the road against Georgia Tech.
“I think they both will play in the first game early,” said On3’s Chris Low on WNML’s Josh and Swain on Thursday. “I don’t know that it’s simply that Tennessee’s up by 45 and they’ll bring in MacIntyre to start the fourth quarter. I think he will have a chance to play even before that because it makes sense that you want to see both of those guys in a game setting before you go on the road and play at Georgia Tech.
“As a coach, I would want to know going in to my first true test on the road that I’ve got two (quarterbacks) who have at least played a little bit in situations where the game’s not necessarily over. By no means do I think we’re going to see a rotation or that we’re going to see George play two or three series in the first half. I don’t mean that. I just think at some point, they’re going to want to get him in with guys that he could potentially be playing with. Because, and you hope and pray this doesn’t happen, but what if Brandon goes down in the first half at Georgia Tech? What if [the Vols] start their first two drives and [Brandon] throws two picks on the first two drives? You want to know at that position when you’ve got two guys who’ve never played, what they look like in a real game in Neyland Stadium against another team.”
The big reason why Tennessee is in a situation where they need to give MacIntyre reps early against Furman is because he only played two series last season — in garbage time against East Tennessee State and New Mexico State.
Jake Merklinger, who is now at UConn, operated as the Vols’ backup quarterback last year (he threw 24 passes) — even though it was known by anyone with a pulse in East Tennessee that he was going to hit the transfer portal after the season.
“I bet you if you asked Josh, he wishes he would have played George more last year in some meaningful situations,” said Low.
MacIntyre is going to be an important player for Tennessee even if Brandon wins the job as expected. What happens if Brandon gets hit against Georgia Tech and has to get checked out for a concussion at an important moment in the game? Even if he just misses a series, it could mean that MacIntyre is taking some critical snaps.
If you’re Tennessee, you want to know that MacIntyre has some experience in that situation. And I know that playing against Furman isn’t exactly a high-leverage situation, but if he plays on the third or fourth series of the game, when the Vols are still running their full offensive game plan, it would at least give him some competitive reps with the first-team offense in a real game situation.
Heupel can’t go back in time to 2025 and give MacIntyre snaps, but I bet he handles those kinds of quarterback situations differently moving forward.
