No surprise here — Josh Heupel will not name a starting quarterback ahead of Tennessee’s road matchup this weekend at Arkansas. Heupel made the move to bench true freshman Faizon Brandon against Auburn after he struggled through the first quarter of play. An ugly interception was the final straw, and redshirt freshman George MacIntyre saw his first true meaningful game action.
MacIntyre didn’t do much, but he offered some efficiency in the passing game. That was enough to boost the rushing attack
and back Auburn off of the line of scrimmage, giving DeSean Bishop some room to work. Bishop went for well over 200 yards and three touchdowns, leading Tennessee to a 24-14 win.
MacIntyre is the obvious answer this week at Arkansas, but Heupel, predictably, isn’t giving anything away.
“We’ll find out as the week goes here,” Josh Heupel said when asked about who would start on Saturday. “George came in and did some really good things. Faizon obviously wasn’t at his best, dealing with getting injured in the Texas game. It was affecting his game, and we’ll go through the week here. You’ll find out Saturday.”
Heupel wasn’t ready to blame injuries on Brandon’s performance on Saturday, so that comment is interesting.
“Being limited in the early part of the week, certainly, those reps, those opportunities allow you to progress during the course of the week,” Heupel said of Brandon’s shoulder issue. “I thought he did a really good job of staying engaged, getting mental reps.”
When pressed on the quarterback situation, Heupel shut things down during the press conference.
“OK, next question,” Heupel said. “I’m done with quarterbacks. Politely. I’m sorry.”
Could we see both guys play against Arkansas? You probably shouldn’t be surprised if we do, or maybe they’ll take the route of getting Brandon fully healthy. It’s tough to know just how serious the shoulder injury is.
At the end of the day though, Heupel isn’t going to say a word about this because he doesn’t have to say a word about this. He’s not going to give Arkansas any free information, although it would be surprise if it’s not MacIntyre out there to most come Saturday afternoon.
