All eyes tomorrow will be on Neyland Stadium as the top-ranked Texas Longhorns take on the No. 14 Tennessee Volunteers in a critical SEC clash between two of the best teams in college football. Both sides come in undefeated with a daunting conference slate ahead, and this could be a deciding game down the stretch of the season. On Friday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel joined "The Pat McAfee Show" and gave high praise to the Vols' true freshman quarterback, Faizon Brandon.
"A young guy that's super mature from the time he got here on campus in January. Has consistently gotten better, and that's dating back to January to spring ball through the summer and into training camp," Heupel said. "The first three weeks, he has continued to grow.
He's taken great care of the football. He's been really decisive. The fundamentals continue to grow inside the pocket.
Accuracy continues to get better. We really like what he's doing. Tomorrow he's just got to be him and take another step." More news: Arch Manning Could Be Without Key Weapon in Texas-Tennessee Clash Brandon, a Greensboro, North Carolina, native, committed to Tennessee in August 2024.
At the time, he was a consensus five-star recruit and the No. 3 quarterback in the 2026 class, as well as a top-10 prospect nationally, choosing the Vols over more than two dozen offers, including Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, and Miami. Even with that elite pedigree, rarely does an 18-year-old get thrust into a starting role at a school like Tennessee. Yet here we are, three weeks in, and he already looks like one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
He's thrown for 552 yards and six touchdowns with zero interceptions, completing 64.1% of his passes, along with 137 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. More news: Mississippi State AD Sends Strong Signal on Kamario Taylor’s Future More news: Oregon Hit With Blunt Warning Ahead of Crucial USC Showdown The only reason he's still flying under some people's radar is that Tennessee has yet to really be challenged this season, with commanding wins over Furman, Georgia Tech, and Kennesaw State. But a win over Texas would get everybody's attention and could see him climb the Heisman ladder sooner rather than later.
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