ATLANTA — Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon had an understated but effective performance in his first Tennessee road game, beating Georgia Tech 45-24 on Sept. 12.
Brandon tossed two touchdown passes, avoided catastrophic mistakes, leaned on a ground game that rushed for almost 300 yards and let his defense make game-changing plays. That was enough for the 18th-ranked Vols (2-0) to hold off the Yellow Jackets (0-2).
Tennessee plays Kennesaw State on Sept. 19 (7:45 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.
Here’s a quick rundown of Brandon’s performance against Georgia Tech for the first road win of his young career.
Faizon Brandon stats
Brandon was 10-of-21 passing for 148 yards, two TDs and no interceptions against Georgia Tech. And he also rushed for 22 yards.
It
was a controlled and conservative performance to follow up his debut against Furman, when he accounted for 294 yards of total offense and five touchdowns.
Faizon Brandon’s best: Two touchdown passes
Brandon’s first pass was a 25-yard TD toss to Ethan Davis on a well-scripted play-action fake. His 14th pass was a 20-yard TD pass to Braylon Staley down the sideline.
In between those scores, Brandon didn’t panic or make small miscues even worse.
Faizon Brandon’s worst: Minor miscues
There didn’t seem to be a single low point for Brandon, which is a great sign for a young quarterback. Instead, it was a predictably humbling experience for a freshman facing a comparable opponent for the first time.
He held the ball too long against pressure on some occasions. He was fooled by coverage on others. He misfired on a few passes. But he didn't do anything foolish to give the game away.
Grade: B-
Brandon remained cool in stressful moments. On a field goal drive, he converted a third-and-12 with a 45-yard pass to Radarious Jackson and converted a fourth-and-2 with an elusive 3-yard scramble.
Perhaps his best trait was restraint. He didn’t press to make plays that weren’t there. And he accepted that some drives would stall rather than risk a turnover with an ill-advised pass.
Tennessee needed Brandon to make timely scoring plays, which he did. And it needed him to avoid costly mistakes, and he also accomplished that.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Grading freshman QB Faizon Brandon in Tennessee football win over Georgia Tech
