Josh Heupel has seen enough. Tennessee football benched freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon during the Vols’ game vs. Auburn on Saturday. In just under a half, Brandon had completed 3-of-8 passes for 0 yards. His final throw was an interception directly to Tigers linebacker Xavier Atkins. Auburn rolled the turnover into a touchdown from the legs of quarterback Byrum Brown.
In response, UT sophomore quarterback George MacIntyre took the field with 3:48 until halftime. Tennessee trailed 7-3 at the time of his entrance.
Last week wasn’t better for Brandon, either. In the 20-17 loss to Texas, he completed 17-of-29 passes for 145 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. After being sacked 10 times, his effort on the ground was limited to just two rushing yards on 23 attempts in the box score.
“First of all, he wants to play at a high level,” Heupel said on Monday. “He knows that he can and he needs to play better than he did Saturday. But that’s a young guy that, since he’s gotten here, has taken ownership, takes correction, incorporates it into his game and improves. Certainly expect that from him this week.
“You know, I said at the beginning of the year, too, you got a young quarterback, the 10 other guys around him got to do their job at a high level to alleviate unforeseen circumstances for that guy, too. And that’s part of the ownership that everybody on the offensive side of the ball has to have.”
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Heading into the game, Brandon had completed 62.4% of passes for 697 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. He had also run 49 times for 139 yards and three scores.
When Brandon exited the game vs. the Longhorns with an injury for just over a drive, MacIntyre briefly entered. He completed 1-of-3 passes for six yards and ran one time for one yard during the appearance. On the year, MacIntyre has completed 6-of-10 passes for 62 yards and a touchdown to freshman TK Keys.
Tennessee’s game vs. Auburn began at 3:30 p.m. ET in Neyland Stadium. It is airing on ESPN.
