Tennessee's Faizon Brandon cleared to play vs. Alabama, but George MacIntyre gets the start

Tennessee freshman quarterback Faizon Brandon will be in uniform and available when No. 6 Alabama visits Neyland Stadium on Saturday. He still won't start. As ClutchPoints reported, citing On3's Pete Nakos, the Vols are going back to George MacIntyre under center. Nakos wrote on X that Brandon "will be available tomorrow against Alabama, but the Vols are set to start QB George MacIntyre."

So Josh Heupel has a second quarterback to turn to if he needs one, but the job is MacIntyre's for now. Brandon won the starting role out of preseason camp and has thrown for 697 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception, plus 130 rushing yards and three scores on the ground. He was pulled during the Auburn game and missed last week's 24-17 win at Arkansas. Rocky Top Talk reported that Brandon has been playing through a shoulder injury, and that Heupel said it affected his play against Auburn. Brandon had been listed as questionable on the SEC availability report.

MacIntyre, a sophomore, made his first career start in Fayetteville. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 247 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Saturday will be his second start. The offense has leaned hard on junior running back DeSean Bishop, who has 678 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, 458 yards and four of those scores coming in the last two games. ClutchPoints also noted that Bishop managed just 34 yards against Texas, his lowest total of the season, which matters against a defense of Alabama's quality. Receiver Mike Matthews leads the passing game with 22 catches for 396 yards and three touchdowns.

What it means for Saturday

Both teams come in at 5-1, and both losses were 20-17 games against top-two opponents: Tennessee to No. 1 Texas, Alabama to No. 2 Georgia last week. That's about where the similarities end. Alabama has scored 44.2 points per game and topped 45 in five of its six outings, including a 56-23 win at Mississippi State. Tennessee has given up 15.5 points per game, but its own offense has slowed since the Texas game. The Vols have scored 17, 24 and 24 points in their three games against Power Four opponents in that stretch, after putting up 42 or more in each of their first three.

The board has Alabama clearly favored. Novig, one of 12 venues on this site's Alabama-Tennessee page, has the Crimson Tide at -292 on the moneyline and Tennessee at +285. Alabama is favored by 7.5 points at -104 on Novig, with Tennessee +7.5 priced at +102. The best Tennessee number anywhere is Hard Rock Bet's +8.5 at -120, so the venues are a full point apart on the spread. Novig's total is 50.5, priced at -108 on the over and +104 on the under. Pinnacle has the highest total at 51 and BetRivers the lowest at 50. Sportsbook hold on the spread runs from 3.4% to 7.0%.

None of those prices moved because of the Brandon news, since MacIntyre was expected to start anyway. If the Vols fall behind early and Heupel decides to change quarterbacks, though, it could change how the second half plays out. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.