Tennessee football has its starting QB vs Arkansas, and it's not Faizon Brandon
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Tennessee football is making a quarterback change.
The 14th-ranked Volunteers will start sophomore George MacIntyre in place of freshman Faizon Brandon for their Week 6 game at Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 10, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel, a part of the USA TODAY Network.
A five-star recruit in the 2026 class, Brandon won the starting job after a lengthy preseason battle and started Tennessee’s first five games of the 2026 season.
After a promising start to his career, Brandon struggled in the Vols’ past two games. In a 20-17 home loss to No.1 Texas, he threw for only 145 yards on 29 attempts. The following game, a 24-14 home win against Auburn, he completed just three of eight passes for zero yards and was benched for MacIntyre late in the second quarter after throwing an interception that gave Auburn a short field to take a 7-3 lead.
On Monday, Oct. 5, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Brandon had been dealing with an injury that limited his practice time. In the loss to Texas, he was sacked 10 times and briefly exited the game with a shoulder injury.
"I think (Brandon) realized that he wasn't playing at his best because of, you know, what he was dealing with physically," Heupel said.
The 6-foot-6 MacIntyre was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class coming out of Brentwood Academy in suburban Nashville. He has appeared in four games this season as Brandon’s backup, completing 14 of 20 passes for 148 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions.
In the win against Auburn, he completed eight of his 10 passes for 86 yards. With MacIntyre at quarterback, the Vols scored on three of their final six full drives of the game, though a good bit of that offensive production could be tied to running back DeSean Bishop, who finished with 34 carries for 220 yards and three touchdowns.
MacIntyre could get a chance to shine against Arkansas, which has been one of the worst Power Four teams in the country so far this season. The Razorbacks are 108th of 138 FBS teams in scoring defense, giving up 28.4 points per game. Against major-conference opponents, they’re allowing 40.7 points per game.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tennessee football has its starting QB vs Arkansas, and it's not Faizon Brandon
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