Where Tennessee's quarterbacks rank in ESPN's QB tiers for all 138 FBS teams

Tennessee football’s quarterback battle left the Vols in the middle of the road on Monday when ESPN broke down all 138 Division I quarterback situations into tiers. 

Of the 25 tiers, Tennessee’s competition between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and freshman Faizon Brandon fell to Tier 12, which was labeled “What’s Behind Door No. 2?”

Tier 1a included Miami’s Darian Mensah, Notre Dame’s CJ Carr, Texas quarterback Arch Manning and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, Tier 1b was only Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Tier 2 included LSU’s Sam Leavitt, Oregon’s Dante Moore and Dylan Raiola and USC’s Jayden Maiava.

The others in Tier 12 are Cincinnati (JC French and Samaj Jones), Clemson (Christopher Vizzina and Tait Reynolds) and North Carolina (Billy Edwards Jr. and Travis Burgess).

“On one hand,” ESPN’s David Hale wrote, “each of these teams could go with a veteran player — either an in-house talent or a portal addition. They’re all safe(ish) bets.”

‘The pressure to go with the young player will be immense’

For Tennessee, MacIntyre represents the in-house candidate after sticking with the Vols following a redshirt year last season when appeared in two games as Tennessee’s third quarterback, completing 7 of 9 passes for 69 yards.

He was a four-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, ranked No. 195 overall in the Rivals Industry ranking. He was the No. 15 quarterback in the class and No. 3 overall in the state of Tennessee, out of Brentwood Academy in Nashville. 

“On the other hand,” Hale wrote, “there’s a true freshman with massive upside and virtually no practice reps.”

Obviously, that’s Brandon. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound freshman out of Grimsley High School in Greensboro, N.C., was the No. 9 overall prospect in the Rivals Industry Ranking for the 2026 class. He was the No. 3 quarterback in the country and the No. 1 prospect in North Carolina. 

“Tennessee fans know a freshman talent when they see one,” Hale noted.

The battle began during spring practice and will continue through the offseason and into fall camp, as Tennessee prepares for its September 5 season opener against Furman. 

“With each team coming off a disappointing season,” Hale added, “the pressure to go with the young player will be immense.”

BetOnline has Faizon Brandon ahead in Tennessee QB battle

Las Vegas likes Brandon’s chances, with BetOnline setting the line at Brandon -250, or 2/3 odds, while MacIntyre is +110, or 11/10.

BetOnline also put odds on the Clemson QB battle, with Vizzina at -1000 while Reynolds is +550.

“In each case,” Hale wrote, “the difference between a coach calming a frustrated fan base and keeping his job or seeing the whole thing blow up might come down to making the right call here.”