Tennessee Vols true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon got his welcome to the SEC moment on Saturday against the Texas Longhorns.

The Greensboro, NC native was sacked 10 times and he passed for 145 yards and a touchdown in the 20-17 loss.

Brandon made some big plays — a couple of key scrambles and a late touchdown throw to Mike Matthews — but he mostly looked indecisive.

And that’s understandable. Brandon, who just turned 18 in June, was making his first SEC start against one of the best defenses in the nation, plus he was playing injured after briefly leaving the game in the first half due to a shoulder injury. It was a tough spot for the youngster.

After the game, former Vols quarterback Jonathan Crompton evaluated Brandon’s performance on the A to Z Sports postgame show and he gave the true freshman a C or C-minus grade.

“I’m torn between a C or C-minus,” said Crompton when asked to grade Brandon. “And the reason why I say that is because he didn’t turn the ball over. Yes, he had some sacks. All 10 were not on him and all 10 were not on the offensive line, either. It was a combination [of both]. I would give him a B-minus if on some of the throws he trusted his arm.

“This is a learning moment for him to learn to trust it. … he’s going to see it on film, and he’s going to go, ‘Damn, I could have made that throw.’ And the more he sees those moments, the more he’s going to let it go.”

Crompton then pointed out something important about Brandon — he’s only the second quarterback at Tennessee under Heupel that didn’t have previous starting experience.

“Every quarterback Heupel’s had at Tennessee, what’s the common denominator outside of Faizon (and Nico Iamaleava)?” said Crompton. “They all started somewhere else. They weren’t fresh into starting games. None of them.”

Every young quarterback goes through games like what we saw from Brandon against Texas on Saturday.

It’s far too early to pass any sort of real judgment on Brandon. Let’s see how he grows and responds from the Texas game next week against Auburn. That response will tell us a lot about the young quarterback.