Freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon made his collegiate debut for Tennessee in Week 1 of the 2026 college football season.
No. 18 Tennessee (1-0) defeated Furman (1-1), 56-9, at Neyland Stadium.
Brandon totaled five touchdowns against Paladins. He completed 13-of-17 passing attempts for 226 yards and three touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound freshman also totaled 68 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 10 attempts.
According to SEC Network, Brandon became the first SEC player with three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in his first FBS start since Cam Newton, a fourth-year collegian, on Sept. 4, 2010 for Auburn against Arkansas State.
Faizon Brandon in his Tennessee debut: 🏈 226 Pass Yds 🏈 68 Rush Yds 🏈 5 Total TD He is the first
SEC player with 3 Pass TD & 2 Rush TD in his first start since Cam Newton 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zg8nknxLAs
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) September 5, 2026
Faizon Brandon recaps first collegiate game with Tennessee
On choosing when to run versus when to stay in the pocket
"I feel like it just comes with the flow of the game. When something wasn’t there, just getting outside and trying to get a positive play, not taking any negative. I’m very confident. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with DO (Derrick Owens), just helping me put on weight, get stronger and faster, so now I feel very confident when I get outside of the pocket."
On how the pace of the game felt for a first college start
“At first, it kind of felt fast. Not too fast, but it definitely slowed down after the second drive, just felt very smooth, and started coming all together."
On the vision for the game
“I thought something like that, just looking over a call sheet and envisioning all the plays we had on there. Just seeing all the big plays in my head the night before, and really just trying to go out there and execute everything that we did. I ended up doing that."
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Faizon Brandon records historic SEC performance since Cam Newton
