‘Tennessee is very comfortable’ – Insider shares latest on Vols’ transfer QB situation after losing Sam Leavitt to LSU
The Tennessee Vols still haven’t landed a transfer quarterback.
The Tennessee Vols are back to square one in their search for a portal quarterback after losing Arizona State transfer Sam Leavitt to the LSU Tigers.
Tennessee also let Missouri Tigers transfer quarterback Beau Pribula walk away (Pribula subsequently committed to the Virginia Cavaliers).
The Vols were very much in the mix for Leavitt, but Tennessee ultimately wasn’t willing to outbid LSU for the talented quarterback.
“Financially, I don’t know if they were all in or not (on Leavitt),” said VolQuest’s Austin Price Tuesday on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “But I think, ultimately, they made a strong enough push at the end that it just boiled down to they were only going to go so high. And LSU was willing to just continue to go (higher on price). And you have to, I think, know where your boundaries are. I mean, Sam Leavitt will get healthy. I’m not worried about that. But Sam Leavitt does have that Lisfranc injury with screws in his foot. He wasn’t going to be available for spring. So there was a risk involved with him, no matter who took him.”
What’s next for the Tennessee Vols at quarterback?
The feeling going into the offseason was that Tennessee needed to find a starting quarterback option so rising redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and rising true freshman Faizon Brandon aren’t forced into action before they’re ready.
But with options dwindling, the Vols may be forced to bring in a quarterback to take part in a three-man competition between MacIntyre and Brandon.
“Tennessee’s got to find somebody,” said Price on Tuesday. “When I say they’ve got to find their quarterback, I don’t mean they have to find their starter. They just have to find a quarterback to compete — to be in the room and to be a functional body — if they had to turn there. Tennessee is very comfortable with the kids they’ve evaluated and brought in.
“Obviously, in a perfect world, you’d like to have somebody with a little bit more experience than what George has, which is basically none, and Faizon, which is none. But that doesn’t mean that those two kids can’t get the job done. It just means that they’ve not shown it, because they’ve not been either given the opportunity, or had the opportunity, at this point.”
The biggest concern with MacIntyre, outside of his lack of experience, is his weight.
MacIntyre has reportedly had trouble adding weight to his 6-foot-6 frame since arriving at Tennessee a year ago.
“George MacIntyre can functionally play the quarterback position with his arm and stuff at the weight he’s at now — no problem,” said Price. “But when you take hit after hit after hit, how does he survive?”
“George needs the extra weight to be able to handle that. And again, he can get there. He just has to really put it on over the next six months or so.”
Maybe a big named quarterback unexpectedly becomes available, or maybe the Vols find a hidden gem at the FCS level. We’ll see what happens over the next couple of days. But after the way things have gone in Tennessee’s quarterback search the last couple of days, it’s starting to feel like there’s a possibility that MacIntyre will have a real chance to win the starting job in 2026.
And maybe that’s the best possible outcome for Tennessee. There’s no doubt that MacIntyre has high-level talent. The question is whether he’s ready as a young quarterback to face the gauntlet of a nine game SEC schedule.
You never know until you know.