Furman coach doesn't think Tennessee football will struggle at QB with Faizon Brandon

Tennessee football freshman Faizon Brandon will get his first snaps as the Vols' starting quarterback in the season opener against Furman.

The No. 18 Vols will face the Paladins (1-0) at Neyland Stadium on Sept. 5 (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+). Furman coach Clay Hendrix was complimentary of Brandon, who was named Tennessee's starter Aug. 24, when he met with the media Sept. 1 to preview the matchup.

Furman has had success against FBS teams in the past, which Hendrix credited to being able to matchup and take advantage of a struggling quarterback. But he doesn't foresee that happening this weekend with Brandon.

"I don’t think Tennessee is going to struggle at quarterback. They got a guy who is playing his first college game, but I told somebody, I think he’s a 12-star recruit coming out of high school," Hendrix said. "He’s probably going to be a great player. He’s big, and he’s athletic. And they’re really good coaches, they’re going to put him in a position to be successful.

"He’s got a really good offensive line, a 1,000-yard rusher at running back and I’ll assure you they’ve got some good receivers at Tennessee. Again, can we influence him? Can we get him to make mistakes? I don’t know. You still got to score points. It’s hard to win games if you don’t score points."

Brandon is set to become the first true freshman to start at quarterback in a Tennessee season opener since Brent Schaeffer in 2004.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder from Greensboro, North Carolina, was a five-star recruit in the 2026 class. Brandon was ranked as the No. 3 quarterback in the class. He enrolled early and never left as he prepared to fight for the starting role this fall. Brandon beat out sophomore George MacIntyre and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.

"I told the team this morning that Faizon had earned the right to be the starter (in) Week 1," Tennessee coach Heupel said Aug. 24. "Faizon gets the nod in Week 1. The expectation at the quarterback position is like at every position, that guys continue to grow and compete every day and continue to get better throughout the course of the season."

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Furman coach doesn't think Tennessee football will struggle at QB with Faizon Brandon