2026 Tennessee football position preview: Quarterbacks
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Tennessee will kick off its sixth football season under Josh Heupel on Sept. 5 at Neyland Stadium. The Vols will host Furman at 3:30 p.m. EDT (SEC Network+).
Tennessee enters fall training camp with four quarterbacks on roster: early enrollee freshman Brandon Faizon, redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, redshirt freshman Mason Phillips and redshirt junior transfer Ryan Staub from Colorado.
MacIntyre appeared in two contests as a freshman in 2025. He played against East Tennessee State and New Mexico State. The 6-foot-6, 208-pound signal-caller completed 7-of-9 passing attempts for 69 yards. His longest completion was 17 yards.
Phillips made his collegiate debut in the fourth quarter against East Tennessee State on Sept. 6, 2025. He recorded 18 rushing yards on two attempts. The 6-foot-1, 188-pound quarterback’s longest rushing attempt was 16 yards.
Staub played three seasons at Colorado from 2023-25. He appeared in 12 games for the Buffaloes and completed 53-of-98 passing attempts for 681 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. The 6-foot-1, 204-pound quarterback started in two games: at Houston on Sept. 12, 2025 and at Utah on Nov. 25, 2023.
Staub completed 19-of-35 passing attempts for 204 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in a, 36-20, loss to the Cougars last season. He also totaled 36 rushing yards on 11 attempts, including three sacks.
In a, 23-17, loss to the Utes in 2023, Staub completed 17-of-24 passing attempts for 195 yards and one touchdown. He totaled -12 rushing yards on four attempts and was sacked two times.
Faizon Brandon committed to Tennessee on Aug. 3, 2024. He signed with the Vols on Dec. 3, 2025 and enrolled at Tennessee in January.
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback participated in spring practices. He was a five-star prospect from Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Brandon committed to the Vols over Alabama, LSU and North Carolina State.
Josh Heupel on naming a Tennessee starting quarterback
In March during spring practices, Heupel discussed naming a starting quarterback for the 2026 season.
“It is open,” Heupel said. “We had that conversation with all of them as we started the winter when they all arrived here. Had that conversation again as we were wrapping up our winter before we got into spring ball. We’ve had a couple of those battles, you guys know that we always communicate with those guys openly, transparently. We communicate with those guys together.
“Don’t expect a guy to be named here during the course of spring ball. I think it’s important that all the guys in that room learn and grow throughout the course of spring, also have a chance to go back in your summer months, digest it, reinstall and come back a much better player, and compete and earn it in front of their teammates as you get into training camp.”
Tennessee football passing yard leaders each season under Josh Heupel
| Year | Player | Yards |
| 2025 | Joey Aguilar | 3,565 |
| 2024 | Nico Iamaleava | 2,616 |
| 2023 | Joe Milton III | 2,813 |
| 2022 | Hendon Hooker | 3,135 |
| 2021 | Hendon Hooker | 2,945 |
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: 2026 Tennessee football position preview: Quarterbacks
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