5 Tennessee football takeaways from Faizon Brandon's 5-TD debut in win vs Furman

Freshman Faizon Brandon showed why he was tapped as Tennessee football's youngest starting quarterback in 56-9 win over Furman on Sept. 5.

Brandon, who turned 18 years old on June 1, looked at ease amid a sellout crowd of 101,915 at Neyland Stadium. He accounted for five touchdowns, which was easily enough to lead the 18th-ranked Vols (1-0) in a runaway victory over Furman (1-1), an FCS program.

UT outgained Furman 638 yards to 221.

Tennessee plays Georgia Tech (0-1) on Sept. 12 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. But first, let’s wrap up Week 1.

Here are five takeaways from the season-opening win over Furman.

Faizon Brandon entered record book in debut

Brandon became the youngest quarterback to start a UT game at 18 years, three months and four days. He was also the first true freshman to start a season opener since Brent Schaeffer in 2004.

Brandon finished 13-of-17 passing for 226 yards, three TDs and no interceptions. And he rushed for 68 yards and two TDs.

He became just the fourth UT quarterback since 1995 to record three TD passes and two TD runs in the same game. Joshua Dobbs (four times), Joe Milton and Justin Worley were the others.

Brandon also tied a UT freshman record with five TDs of any kind in a single game. Casey Clausen and Tyler Bray had five TD passes in 2000 and 2010, respectively.

Backup George MacIntyre relieved Brandon in the third quarter and tossed a 22-yard TD pass to freshman TK Keys.

Xavier Gilliam got three sacks in first game with Vols

Tennessee’s defense showed some teeth in its first game under new coordinator Jim Knowles. The Vols recorded six sacks and 12 tackles-for-loss. Notably, their season-high was six sacks against Mississippi State in 2025.

Defensive tackle Xavier Gilliam, a Penn State transfer who followed Knowles to Tennessee, led the way with three sacks. That tied for the most sacks by a UT player since Darrell Taylor had four against Kentucky on Nov. 10, 2018.

UT’s other sacks were recorded by Tyree Weathersby, Edwin Spillman and Mariyon Dye.

Mike Matthews caught two TD passes from Faizon Brandon

Wide receiver Mike Matthews was a favorite target for Brandon, especially on vertical routes.

Matthews had four catches, including two for TDs in the third quarter. He set career highs with 132 yards and two TDs.

Brandon connected with Matthews on a 55-yard TD on a busted coverage by Furman. And Brandon tossed another deep ball to Matthews, who made a high-flying catch and sprinted to end zone for a 57-yard score.

It was fitting that Brandon and Matthews, a pair of former five-star recruits, connected in their first game together. Their relationship started during Brandon’s recruitment and blossomed in workouts this offseason.

Faizon Brandon led Vols to quick touchdown

Tennessee kept up its quick-scoring trend under coach Josh Heupel. The Vols marched 60 yards in eight plays in less than three minutes on the opening drive for a touchdown.

Brandon capped the drive with a 17-yard TD pass to Ethan Davis.

Last season, the Vols scored on their opening drive in 10 of 13 games, including eight TDs and two field goals.

However, UT didn’t score again in the first quarter against Furman. Heupel’s teams have outscored opponents 723-282 in the first quarter during his tenure.

Josh Heupel tied Doug Dickey for all-time wins

Heupel improved to 46-20 in his sixth season at Tennessee. That tied him with Doug Dickey for sixth place on the Vols’ all-time wins list.

Gen. Robert Neyland is the winningest coach in UT history at 173-31-12. Phillip Fulmer (152 wins), Johnny Majors (116), Bill Battle (59) and Bowden Wyatt (49) round out the top five.

Heupel also improved to 9-0 in season openers as a head coach, including 3-0 at UCF and 6-0 at Tennessee. Lastly, UT improved to 22-4 in nonconference games under Heupel, including a 20-1 mark in the regular season.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: 5 Tennessee football takeaways from Faizon Brandon's 5-TD debut in win vs Furman