Unless something unexpected happens over the next few days/weeks — and that’s certainly possible given the state of college football — the Tennessee Vols will go into the offseason with rising redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and incoming true freshman Faizon Brandon as the program’s top two quarterback options.

The Vols pursued several of the top quarterback options in the transfer portal, including Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt and Cincinnati transfer Brendan Sorsby, but ultimately came up empty.

Tennessee is still expected to add a transfer quarterback to the roster before spring practice, but it will likely be a depth option that can compete with MacIntyre and Brandon for the starting job (again, unless something changes).

Vols insider raises interesting point about Tennessee’s current quarterback situation

VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Friday, and he made an interesting point about Tennessee’s quarterback situation. Hubbs noted that the quarterback scenario Tennessee is facing is what everyone thought it would be a little over a year ago.

That expectation a year ago was that Nico Iamaleava would start at quarterback for the Vols in 2025, then leave for the NFL, allowing MacIntyre to step into the starting role as a redshirt freshman in 2026. That was the plan when MacIntyre signed with Tennessee during the 2025 recruiting cycle.

The only difference now is that instead of Iamaleava starting for the Vols in 2025, it was Joey Aguilar (thanks to the de facto quarterback trade between UCLA and Tennessee).

“What’s funny is a year ago, at this point in time, if everybody said, ‘What’s the quarterback plan?’ The quarterback plan for fans, for everybody, was simple,” said Hubbs. “Nico’s back, he has a really good year this past year for Tennessee, takes a real step from the playoff team (in 2024) to this year, [the Vols] take off offensively, they get back to their ways offensively, and then [Nico is] off to the NFL and George ascends.

“That was the plan 365 days ago. Now, what has changed to the point that Tennessee went out and tried to get Sam Leavitt, and they weren’t ready to [move forward] with the plan that’s been in place since George signed with Tennessee? I don’t know. But we’re back to what the original plan was scheduled to be. And that was George [starting] as a redshirt freshman — much the same way Nico, as a redshirt, stepped in the quarterback position (in 2024). The thought process a year ago was that George is going to do that, and that’s exactly where it feels like we are right now — unless something crazy happens in the portal here.”

Hubbs makes a great point. This is exactly the plan that’s been in place for a couple of years. The only thing that’s really changed is that Josh Heupel is likely feeling some pressure after going 8-5 this past season.

There’s also some hesitancy with MacIntyre stepping into the starting role because of his weight. But otherwise, the coaching staff really likes what they have in the Tennessee native.

“I think they like his mental side of it,” said Hubbs when asked what Tennessee likes about MacIntyre. “I think they like his recall, his understanding, his quick decision making, his solid decision making. It’s certainly not perfect, but I think they like those things. He has to continue to get bigger and stronger. We know that’s become the narrative about George MacIntyre over the last two plus months.

“He’s not put on kind of the size that you would have hoped and wanted in terms of just growing. That doesn’t mean he can’t play. It just means it was a missed opportunity over the course of the last six or seven months to physically be at a better spot than he is right now. Size-wise, again, you can play a 200-pound quarterback, you can play a 195-pound quarterback. But you better keep that guy upright. And you better hope he can take a hit. You better hope he knows how to avoid a hit, because there’s durability concerns. It’s not that he can’t physically play the position. It’s a durability part with his size, and that’s why everybody would like to see him put on more weight.”

If MacIntyre wins the starting job, it might be the best thing to happen to Tennessee football in 2026. Or it may be an up-and-down adventure; there are inevitably going to be some growing pains for GMac, it’s part of the development process.

The only thing we know for sure about MacIntyre is that no one knows how he’ll perform on Saturdays if he wins the job — he’s just gotta go play and see what happens.

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