"He's already better than Nico Iamaleava" - CFB fans react to Tennessee 5-star QB commit Faizon Brandon's arm strength at Elite 11 Finals

The Tennessee Volunteers dealt with unexpected quarterback issues this offseason when QB Nico Iamaleava opted to transfer to UCLA after an NIL contract dispute. The team ended up essentially doing a QB swap with the Bruins, acquiring Joey Aguilar from them.

However, Aguilar is not the QB of the future, and as a result, Tennessee management secured the commitment of the No. 1-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, QB Faizon Brandon. On Tuesday, a clip of Brandon throwing a deep ball at the Elite 11 Finals was posted on X.

The clip got Tennessee fans excited as they envisioned him throwing deep TD passes for the Volunteers a year from now. They reacted in the comments on X.

"He’s already better than nico lmao," one fan wrote. "Wow notice how he didn’t overthrow him and the wr actually caught it. Would’ve been nice last year," one fan commented. "GBO," one fan added.

Fans continued to react in the comments.

"You want the best young man," one fan wrote. "He’s not wearing pajamas, that’s a good sign," one fan commented. "He’s gonna lead us to the promise land," one fan added.

Joey Aguilar will play quarterback for Tennessee before Faizon Brandon arrives

While Tennessee fans are excited about the prospect of Faizon Brandon joining the Volunteers in 2026, they will need to get through one more season before he arrives. In the meantime, with Nico Iamaleava headed to UCLA, the Volunteers will turn to Joey Aguilar as their starting QB.

Aguilar spent the past two seasons as a member of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. In both seasons, he threw for 3000+ yards and 23+ TDs. In 2024, he completed 218 of 390 passing attempts for 30003 yards and 23 TDs.

Following the season, he transferred to UCLA. However, after Nico Iamaleava unexpectedly transferred to the Bruins in the spring after a contract dispute, Aguilar decided to transfer again. With Iamaleava joining the Bruins, Aguilar likely would not have gotten much playing time.

In an interesting twist of fate, Aguilar switched schools with Iamaleava, opting to transfer to Tennessee. While Aguilar is not as experienced at high levels of competition as Iamaleava, he is still expected to perform well this coming season.

The Volunteers are coming off a 10-3 season that ended in a first-round exit from the college football playoff. Aguilar will be trying to help the team go on a deeper run this coming season.

Edited by Alexander O'Reilly