Photos: Tennessee Athletics
Starting George MacIntyre is a no brainer for this Tennessee team. Until he proves that it is not.
We already know what this roster needs from the quarterback to have a good season. Manage the game. Make a play when the down calls for it. This defense is very good. The run game is elite when DeSean Bishop has a crease. The quarterback does not have to be the show. He has to hit the easy stuff when the box is stacked and the receivers are pressed.
Good luck pressing Braylon Staley and Mike Matthews all day. They will get open. Somebody has to throw it on time, because this offensive line is not going to give you a long look. In two quarters MacIntyre proved he could do that. Eight of 10. The ball out. A 42 yard slant to Matthews that flipped the Auburn game. He handed it to Bishop and got out of the way until the play was there.
That does not mean we have seen the last of Faizon Brandon. It means you cannot punish the kid who just gave you the look by putting him back on the bench because the other one won camp.
In fall camp the hype was Brandon’s ability to get out and make a play. That was the separation. He is not doing it on Saturdays. The one play people will bring up is the fourth down against Georgia Tech, where he made a guy miss and picked up the first with his legs. I loved it live. It is always good to have a real athlete at quarterback. Go back and watch it. None of that had to happen. The tight end was open if he saw it in time. The game is moving too fast for him, and we are not using the athletic part anyway.
An athletic quarterback is only dangerous when the threat of the pass is real. It is not real with Brandon right now, so teams are treating him like another running back and not respecting anything over their heads. The legs do not factor much when nobody is worried about the throw.
Either way it is not working. Zero passing yards against Auburn. Sacks he did not need to take. A late throw into an open window that got picked. Six quarters of a freshman scanning for something that was not there.
Give me the guy who hands the ball to Bishop and, when the game calls for it, reads it and throws to the playmakers quickly. I have not seen that from Brandon. I have already seen it from MacIntyre in two quarters.
Both will probably play the rest of this year unless MacIntyre goes off, and then the question becomes why he was not starting on day one. The other truth is you cannot put him back on the bench until he proves he cannot do it. He has to start against Arkansas and keep the job until the tape says otherwise.
Use your eyes. Did the offense look better with MacIntyre or with Brandon? It was clear from the stands.
It should be clear on the depth chart.