Most of the talk surrounding Tennessee’s recent loss to Texas centers on the Vols’ poor offensive line play or true freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon’s “Welcome to the SEC” moment against the Longhorns’ stout defense.

It seems that Brandon’s injury in the first half, which nearly knocked the freshman out of the game, has been an afterthought.

Brandon left the game in the first half after a Texas defender landed on him and drove his throwing shoulder into the ground.

Backup quarterback George MacIntyre entered the game for six snaps before Brandon eventually returned.

Faizon Brandon answered a big question about his toughness and earned a bunch of respect in the process

Back in August, former Vols assistant coach Doug Matthews questioned how either of Tennessee’s young quarterbacks would react to getting hit for the first time in the SEC.

“These guys have never been hit since they’ve stepped foot on campus at the University of Tennessee,” said Matthews. “What’s going to happen when one or both of these guys get lit up? What’s going to happen when both of these guys get really physically hit where you’ve got to lay on the ground a minute to make sure all of your parts are still working together? That’s going to happen.”

Well, Brandon got hit, and he was injured, and he responded by showing guts, finishing the game, and continuing to compete no matter how many times he got hit.

And that earned the North Carolina native a significant amount of respect from his teammates.

“I don’t know what his exact injury was or is, but I can promise you he was hurting and hurting a lot,” said Voice of the Vols Mike Keith this week on 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL.

“I interviewed (Vols linebacker) Jeremiah Telander for one of our shows for later in the week, and the first thing he talked about in terms of positives coming out of the game was the respect that the team has for Faizon Brandon. And that’s something that carries over. … When you earn that with a teammate, it takes you somewhere different, and it will help you somewhere down the line. There will be people who will gut it out for him because he showed that. Because, again, I promise you he was hurting, and he was still competing in that way.”

The team obviously already had a lot of respect for Brandon. But this was the first time he’d been hit and suffered an injury. No one knew how he would actually respond in that moment. The 18-year-old showed that he’s an elite competitor and that he’s a tough player.

As Mike Keith said, that will pay off down the line for this team.