Tennessee scrimmaged for a second time at Neyland Stadium during fall training camp on Saturday.
The Vols have a starting quarterback competition between early enrollee freshman Faizon Brandon and sophomore George MacIntyre.
Sixth-year head coach Josh Heupel discussed how Tennessee's quarterbacks performed on Saturday in the second and final scrimmage ahead of the season kicking off Sept. 5.
Everything Heupel said is listed below.
On how the quarterbacks progressed from scrimmage one to scrimmage two"Throughout the course of the last week since scrimmage one, I thought they did a really good job taking care of the football, handling decision making, controlling what we're doing offensively. Today, there were some real positives, some things that they're going to learn from too, so excited to go back and watch the tape here with them."
On how to make the decision on when to let them know who the starter will be"You evaluate where they're at, who's earned it and what you think is best holistically for that position group in the buildup and in the football team."
On if there is an advantage to naming a starting quarterback before game week"I don't know if there's any advantage necessarily. Time on task, timing with the wide receivers, tight ends, that type of thing can be an advantage. Those guys have both gotten a bunch of work with that first group."
On if naming a starting quarterback sooner matters from a reps standpoint"I think it's different every single year. At the end of the day, you look at where they're at, where we're at and what's best for the football team."
On the quarterbacks' success throwing the deep ball this preseason"I feel like over the course of the two scrimmages, it's been really positive. During the course of practice, it's been extremely positive. Today, we were able to hit a couple of them. All parts of it have to be tied together, too. The route, coverage, and then the protection piece of it too."
On evaluating the quarterbacks' rushing ability in a scrimmage setting"No, they're not live. They're protected in that way, but you can see their ability to manipulate and work in the pocket. You can see their ball security in the pocket, out of the pocket. Extended plays, you get a chance to see their decision making down the field. If it's not open, their ability to tuck it and gain positive yards and put you in the right situations. So, it's not realistic in gameday as far as the tackle being made, but you can see all those other things before you get to gameday."
On the quarterbacks' performance pre-snap during the scrimmage"Throughout the course of training camp, have continued to get better at that. Today was not our best day. That's not just the quarterback. Some moving pieces, offensive line, wide receivers, all that. We still have ground that we have to continue to chew up here before we get to kickoff."
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Tennessee's quarterback competition detailed after second scrimmage
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