Faizon Brandon leaned forward in a stool, wearing an orange Tennessee polo shirt and football pants from practice 45 minutes earlier, and waited for the press conference to start.
He had done it countless times before. Brandon said he was interviewed by a reporter for the first time when he was 14 years old. Now 18, he spent most of his high school playing days in the spotlight as a five-star recruit.
But this press conference on Aug. 25 was a little different than the rest.
Brandon was surrounded by about 20 reporters in the media room of the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center. And they all wanted to know the same thing: What does it feel like to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback as a true freshman?
“I feel really blessed,” Brandon said. “I just
want to thank God for the opportunity to be the starter here.”
During a nine-minute media availability, Brandon revealed quite a bit about his approach to the quarterback battle. He appeared humble, mature and determined to outwork the competition.
That was apparent in how he digested the news of winning the starting job.
Faizon Brandon returned to workout before texting big news
On Aug. 24, coach Josh Heupel named Brandon the starting quarterback for No. 18 Tennessee’s season opener against Furman on Sept. 5 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+/SEC Network+) at Neyland Stadium.
He won the quarterback competition over sophomore George MacIntyre and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.
Brandon said he was excited when Heupel told him that he’d earned the right to be the starter in Week 1. But that celebration was short-lived.
Brandon didn’t discuss it with MacIntyre. And he didn’t send text messages to anyone to break the news. He simply went to his position meeting and workout and let the college football world learn the news as it broke. That included his mother.
“My mom texted me (after reports surfaced about him winning the starting job),” Brandon said. “We had a little workout after it was announced. I had a lot of text messages, but I responded to my mom first. She just said she was very proud of me, she loves me, and she was excited to see me play.
“In the moment I was excited, but we had to get right back to football after that.”
Brandon on not going home: 'I'm pretty busy'
Once Brandon enrolled at UT in January, he didn’t leave Knoxville. Instead, his family visited from Greensboro, North Carolina.
“They know I’m pretty busy,” Brandon said. “I definitely wanted to go back (home) but it was kind of hard with everything I had to do.”
Brandon’s teammates took vacations and left briefly for holidays, but Brandon stayed put. He said he couldn’t afford to leave the team facility in the middle of a quarterback competition where every day counts, and he described that decision in a very practical way.
The weight room, film room and practice fields were on campus, so he stayed there as his 9-to-5 job throughout the offseason.
“I feel like there’s just a lot more resources here for me to have with the facility and everything,” Brandon said. “That was the biggest thing was just everything I had around me.”
It’s the kind of thing fans like to hear, especially because they know blue-chip recruits like Brandon are well paid in NIL money. That work ethic certainly made an impression on Heupel.
"Something that sticks out is (when) we broke in May for a few weeks of vacation and he’s still in the building — whether that’s in the weight room, the video room, walking through things on the turf, on our indoor (field), working on fundamentals," Heupel said. "That type of mentality, attitude, is a tribute to him and his growth. That’s why he’s continuing to grow as fast as he has.”
How Brandon plans to defend QB1 job beyond Week 1
Brandon acknowledged that starting at Tennessee fulfills a dream. But he quickly turned his attention to his next goal: Playing winning football as an SEC quarterback.
“I feel like everything paid off, but it’s not done yet. We have a whole season ahead of us,” Brandon said. “(Earning the starting job) was just one of my big goals. I accomplished that. I’m still ready to keep working and prepare for the season.”
Brandon knows that Heupel only named him as the Week 1 starter. The coach said it privately to the quarterbacks a few hours before he said it publicly.
That has motivated Brandon to prove himself all over again when he makes his debut.
“It’s not over now. Don’t stop pushing. Just keep on working. That’s how I feel,” Brandon said. “I’m not going to try to do anything spectacular (against Furman), but just do everything I’ve been doing along the way.”
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: Faizon Brandon explains why he never went home during Tennessee QB competition
