The national narrative entering fall camp was that true freshman Faizon Brandon was the man to beat in the Tennessee Vols’ starting quarterback competition.

Brandon, a former five-star recruit, had a perceived advantage in the competition due to redshirt freshman George MacIntyre’s struggles in spring practice.

MacIntyre reportedly didn’t process well early in spring practice, and though he got better as spring went along, the feeling exiting spring practice was that Brandon was ahead in the battle.

Over the last week, however, the narrative has shifted back to a more neutral tone.

MacIntyre has had a good start to fall camp, and it’s no longer considered a given that Brandon will win the job.

One of George MacIntyre’s biggest disadvantages in the spring is now an advantage in fall camp

A big reason why MacIntyre struggled some in spring practice is the same reason he’s quickly made up ground in fall camp.

MacIntyre was the quarterback with all the pressure in spring practice. Entering spring, the narrative was that MacIntyre was the guy to beat due to his one year of experience in Josh Heupel’s system (side note: the narratives sure do seem to change a lot).

“The challenge for George, because the expectation and the pressure is on George, [is that] George has got to play within the confines, he’s got to take care of the football, but he’s also got to rip it,” explained VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs earlier this year. “He can’t be checkdown Charlie. He’s going to have to push the ball and drive the ball down the field, because that’s the expectation, and that’s what he’s coached to do.”

Brandon, meanwhile, could play free and easy since he was facing no expectations as a true freshman who was still just 17 years old at the time (Brandon turned 18 in June).

But with Brandon viewed as the favorite entering fall camp, it suddenly meant that he was the one with the pressure on him to win the job, which obviously eased the pressure on MacIntyre.

“George has had a really strong start (to fall camp),” said VolQuest’s Austin Price this week on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning. “A lot of the national narrative for the last several months was that Faizon was trending, and he was. He was trending coming out of the spring.

“But Faizon also went into spring with no pressure, and George was thought to be the slight leader in the clubhouse. And all of a sudden it flipped. I mean, all of a sudden the pressure goes to Faizon because he’s supposed to win the job, and no one was giving George much of a chance heading into fall camp. And he’s (MacIntyre) been really solid through the first week.”

Pressure is a real thing, and it affects players in different ways. I don’t know that it’s impacting Brandon necessarily, but MacIntyre having the pressure off him is undoubtedly helping him to be the best version of himself in fall camp.

Everyone gets caught up in arm talent and physical abilities, and that stuff is obviously important, but the most important thing for a quarterback is the ability to play free and easy with confidence. None of the other stuff matters if you can’t just play free and let it rip.