You won’t want to miss this.

One year ago, Faizon Brandon was the star quarterback at Grimsley High School, leading the Whirlies toward a second consecutive state championship.

This coming Saturday, the Greensboro native will walk onto the field at Neyland Stadium as the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers and look across the line of scrimmage at the No. 1 college football team in the country.

No. 14 Tennessee hosts No. 1 Texas on Saturday, Sept. 26, at noon. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.

Both teams are 3-0.

And for people in Greensboro who watched Brandon develop from a talented kid at Grimsley into one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks in the country, this may be the first real chance to find out just how good he can be.

Texas is favored – but not by nearly as much as might be expected against a true freshman quarterback making his fourth college start. FanDuel opened Texas as a 5.5-point favorite, with the over-under at 55.5 points.

That says something about how quickly Brandon has established himself.

Through his first three college games, Brandon has completed 41 of 64 passes for 552 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. He’s also rushed for more than 130 yards and three touchdowns.

In other words: The freshman from Greensboro has accounted for nine touchdowns in three games and has yet to throw his first college interception.

His debut could hardly have gone better.

Against Furman on Sept. 5, Brandon completed 13 of 17 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 68 yards and two more scores as Tennessee easily won 56-9.

Those five touchdowns tied the Tennessee record for total touchdowns by a true freshman in a game, joining former Vol quarterbacks Casey Clausen and Tyler Bray. According to the SEC Network, Brandon was also the first Southeastern Conference player since Cam Newton in 2010 to have three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in his first FBS start.

Brandon was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

Then he did it all again. In his first college road game, at Georgia Tech, Brandon completed 10 of 21 passes for 148 yards, threw two touchdowns without an interception and added 22 yards rushing as Tennessee won 45-24.

And he became SEC Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Brandon was learning almost in real time.

“I really like a lot of what he’s done,” Heupel said after the Georgia Tech game. “I think he’s going to get better every rep, every series, every game.”

On Saturday against Kennesaw State, the former Grimsley QB completed 18 of 26 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 47 yards and a score as Tennessee won 42-9.

Now the training wheels, to the extent there ever were any, come off.

Texas is No. 1 in the country and represents by far the toughest opponent Brandon has seen in college.

The Longhorns are also led by one of college football’s biggest names, quarterback Arch Manning. That creates an unusual national matchup – Manning, one of the most famous players in the sport, against an 18-year-old true freshman who was playing high school football on North Josephine Boyd Street in Greensboro less than a year ago.

For people who followed Brandon at Grimsley, however, winning games is nothing new: He finished his high school career 35-1 as a starting quarterback and led Grimsley to back-to-back state championships in 2024 and 2025.

As a junior in 2024, he completed 77.1 percent of his passes for 2,814 yards, 35 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He also rushed for 625 yards and nine touchdowns while leading Grimsley to a perfect season and the NCHSAA 4A state championship.

In the championship game against Rolesville, Brandon threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns and he ran for another touchdown in Grimsley’s 35-23 victory. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

His senior season took an unexpected turn when he injured his thumb in Grimsley’s opener and missed nine games.

He returned for the playoffs and Grimsley promptly did it again. The Whirlies defeated Clayton 24-14 for the 2025 state championship, giving Brandon consecutive titles. He threw a touchdown and ran for another in the championship game and was again named the game’s MVP.

Across his high school career, he completed more than 72 percent of his passes for 6,374 yards and 79 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,261 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was the 2024 Gatorade and MaxPreps North Carolina Player of the Year and one of the highest-ranked recruits in the country.

Heupel said Brandon’s work habits were a major reason he won Tennessee’s starting job despite being a true freshman.

When Heupel announced the decision in August, he recalled that while other players were taking a break in May, Brandon kept showing up.

“He’s in the building,” Heupel said. “Whether that’s in the weight room, whether that’s in the video room, walking through things on the turf in our indoor, working on fundamentals.”

Heupel said that that mentality was responsible for “why he’s continued to grow as fast as he has.”

Brandon became Tennessee’s first true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback since Brent Schaeffer in 2004.

And there’s even some very early Heisman Trophy chatter.

It would be premature to call Brandon a serious Heisman favorite after three games – the current betting favorites are other players – but the New York Post included him in its Heisman Watch following Week 3, specifically pointing to the freshman and his upcoming opportunity against Texas.

A big performance Saturday will certainly make that conversation considerably louder.

This is a young kid who grew up here, played at Grimsley, won two state championships here and was playing high school football here nine months ago. But, at noon Saturday, he’ll be standing in front of more than 100,000 people at Neyland Stadium with millions more watching on national television, trying to knock off the No. 1 team in America.

on was the star quarterback at Grimsley High School, leading the Whirlies toward a second consecutive state championship.

This Saturday, the Greensboro native will walk onto the field at Neyland Stadium as the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers and look across the line of scrimmage at the No. 1 college football team in the country.

No. 14 Tennessee hosts No. 1 Texas on Saturday, Sept. 26, at noon. The game will be nationally televised on ABC. Both teams are 3-0.

And for people in Greensboro who watched Brandon develop from a talented kid at Grimsley into one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks in America, this may be the first real chance to find out just how good he can be.

Texas is favored, but not by nearly as much as might be expected against a true freshman quarterback making his fourth college start. FanDuel opened Texas as a 5.5-point favorite, with the over-under at 55.5 points.

That says something about how quickly Brandon has established himself.

Through his first three college games, Brandon has completed 41 of 64 passes for 552 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions. He has also run for more than 130 yards and three touchdowns.

In other words, the freshman from Greensboro has accounted for nine touchdowns in three games and has yet to throw his first college interception.

His debut could hardly have gone better.

Against Furman on Sept. 5, Brandon completed 13 of 17 passes for 226 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 68 yards and two more scores as Tennessee won 56-9.

Those five touchdowns tied the Tennessee record for total touchdowns by a true freshman in a game, joining former Vol quarterbacks Casey Clausen and Tyler Bray. According to the SEC Network, Brandon was also the first Southeastern Conference player since Cam Newton in 2010 to have three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in his first FBS start.

Brandon was named SEC Freshman of the Week.

Then he did it again.

In his first college road game, at Georgia Tech, Brandon completed 10 of 21 passes for 148 yards, threw two touchdowns without an interception and added 22 yards rushing as Tennessee won 45-24. He became SEC Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said Brandon was learning almost in real time.

“I really like a lot of what he’s done,” Heupel said after the Georgia Tech game. “I think he’s going to get better every rep, every series, every game.”

On Saturday against Kennesaw State, Brandon completed 18 of 26 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 47 yards and a score as Tennessee won 42-9.

Now the training wheels, to the extent there ever were any, come off.

Texas is No. 1 in the country and represents by far the toughest opponent Brandon has seen in college.

The Longhorns are also led by one of college football’s biggest names, quarterback Arch Manning. That creates an unusual national matchup – Manning, one of the most famous players in the sport, against an 18-year-old true freshman who was playing high school football on North Josephine Boyd Street in Greensboro less than a year ago.

For people who followed Brandon at Grimsley, however, winning games is nothing new.

He finished his high school career 35-1 as a starting quarterback and led Grimsley to back-to-back state championships in 2024 and 2025.

As a junior in 2024, Brandon completed 77.1 percent of his passes for 2,814 yards, 35 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He also rushed for 625 yards and nine touchdowns while leading Grimsley to a perfect season and the NCHSAA 4A state championship.

In the championship game against Rolesville, Brandon threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another touchdown in Grimsley’s 35-23 victory. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

His senior season took an unexpected turn when he injured his thumb in Grimsley’s opener and missed nine games.

He returned for the playoffs and Grimsley promptly did it again.

The Whirlies defeated Clayton 24-14 for the 2025 state championship, giving Brandon consecutive titles. He threw a touchdown and ran for another in the championship game and was again named the game’s MVP.

Across his high school career, Tennessee credits Brandon with completing more than 72 percent of his passes for 6,374 yards and 79 touchdowns while rushing for another 1,261 yards and 21 touchdowns. He was the 2024 Gatorade and MaxPreps North Carolina Player of the Year and one of the highest-ranked recruits in the country.

Heupel said Brandon’s work habits were a major reason he won Tennessee’s starting job despite being a true freshman.

When Heupel announced the decision in August, he recalled that while other players were taking a break in May, Brandon kept showing up.

“He’s in the building,” Heupel said. “Whether that’s in the weight room, whether that’s in the video room, walking through things on the turf in our indoor, working on fundamentals.”

Heupel said that mentality was responsible for “why he’s continued to grow as fast as he has.”

Brandon became Tennessee’s first true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback since Brent Schaeffer in 2004.

And there is even some very early Heisman Trophy chatter.

It would be premature to call Brandon a serious Heisman favorite after three games – the current betting favorites are other players – but the New York Post included him in its Heisman Watch following Week 3, specifically pointing to the freshman and his upcoming opportunity against Texas.

A big performance Saturday would certainly make that conversation considerably louder.

For Greensboro, though, the appeal of this game doesn’t really require a Heisman campaign, a national ranking or even a Tennessee rooting interest.

This is a kid who grew up here, played at Grimsley, won two state championships here and was playing high school football here nine months ago.

At noon Saturday, he’ll be standing in front of more than 100,000 people at Neyland Stadium with millions more watching on national television, trying to knock off the No. 1 team in America.

(Photo by Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics)