When quarterback Faizon Brandon notched five touchdowns in his Tennessee football debut, it must’ve felt like replaying a highlight reel of game he’d already played.
After all, Brandon said he had visualized those plays long before they occurred.
“I thought something like that (would happen),” Brandon said on Sept. 5 after leading the 18th-ranked Vols (1-0) to a 56-9 win
over Furman (1-1) at Neyland Stadium.“Just looking over the call sheet and envisioning all the plays that we had on there, I was seeing all the big plays in my head the night before. I just went out there and tried to execute everything, and we ended up doing that.”
It was quite a performance for the youngest freshman to ever start at quarterback for the Vols. But what was eye-opening
was how Brandon reacted to his exceptional debut.
He exuded confidence. But the 18-year-old also felt comfortable acknowledging his youth and inexperience.
“I was definitely nervous, but not too nervous,” Brandon said. “I felt like I would do pretty good, but I had a lot of great guys around me to help me do that also.”
Why Faizon Brandon was compared to Joshua Dobbs, Cam Newton
Brandon aced his first exam. He was almost flawless in a runaway win over Furman, an FCS program.
But now comes a more advanced test. Tennessee plays Georgia Tech (0-1) on Sept. 12 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
For the next week, Brandon will hear how well he played, and he must balance confidence with humility. A sampling of that praise started immediately.
Before Brandon exited his first UT game, he was being compared to former Vols star Joshua Dobbs.
Brandon had three TD passes and two TD runs against Furman. Dobbs was among only three UT quarterbacks who accomplished that in the previous 30 years.
After Brandon exited the game in the third quarter, he was compared to former Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton on the ESPN broadcast.
After all, Newton was the last player to pull off that same feat in his first career start. However, Newton’s five-TD performance came in the 2010 season at Auburn, when he was a fourth-year player. Brandon is a freshman.
This skill showed Faizon Brandon's football maturity
A common thread between Dobbs, Newton and Brandon is their ability to run the ball in addition to their passing prowess.
Brandon rushed for 68 yards on 10 carries. He scored on designed runs, a 6-yarder on an option keeper and a 7-yarder on a quarterback draw. But just as effectively, he tucked the ball and scrambled for moderate gains when no receivers were open.
That last part may point to his maturity, which coaches have raved about all preseason.
“If something wasn’t there, just get outside the pocket and try to get a positive play and not take any negative,” Brandon said. “I feel very confident when I get outside the pocket. But I don’t try to do too much.”
Brandon’s opponents will only get tougher. Georgia Tech is next, and a challenging SEC slate is not long after that.
But it appears Brandon’s quiet confidence is here to stay. He visualized playing well in his first Vols game, and then he made it come true. Tennessee fans can only imagine how good Brandon could be if his debut was any indication.
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: How Faizon Brandon saw his five TDs for Tennessee the night before they happened
