Josh Heupel is on one heck of a roll on the recruiting trail lately, and that hot streak continued on Saturday when Greensboro, NC (Grimsley HS) QB Faizon Brandon announced his commitment to the Tennessee Volunteers.
It goes without saying that Brandon is a massive get for the Vols. On3 Sports and 247 Sports both have Brandon as the #1 QB in the country for 2026. 247 even has him as the #1 overall recruit in the nation. In other words, it’s one of the biggest recruits anyone will land for the 2026 cycle.
For Tennessee, it’s a continuation of a very impressive run in one particular area: quarterbacks. Gotta have them. Absolutely can’t get enough of them.
It’s essential to land at least one good quarterback recruit in every single recruiting class. You have to bring in the best and compete. That’s what the best programs do.
Now, Tennessee has a four-year stretch lined up with four-star or better QBs. 5-star Nico Iamaleava from California in the 2023 class. 4-star Jake Merklinger from Savannah, GA in 2024. 4-star (or 5-star; hard to tell with the way the flaky recruiting services have treated him this year) George MacIntyre from Nashville for 2025. And now 5-star Brandon for 2026.
It’s hard to do better than that. That’s an incredible run for Heupel and QB coach/offensive coordinator Joey Halzle, who was essential in Brandon’s recruitment and in those of the rest of the group.
The Vols are surely set up for success under center in 2024 and 2025 with Nico set to take the reins and hopefully lead Tennessee back to competing for SEC and national championships again. However, if he ends up leaving for the NFL after 2025, the future behind him looks bright. Like, looking-at-the-sun-type of bright.
And that’s something that Tennessee fans should get very, very excited about. Because that’s how championship-level teams operate.