GREENSBORO, N.C. — Spend a couple of minutes with the nation’s prime recruit and also you shortly come away impressed by the pure ease with which he carries himself.
Faizon Brandon is well mannered but quiet, unassuming in a way and but effectively outfitted to deal with all of the stress and a focus that include being 247Sports’ No. 1 participant in its 2026 ratings. At 6-foot-4, 200 kilos and with an arm that may throw the ball 70 yards, Brandon already seems to be and acts the half. 247Sports’ director of scouting Andrew Ivins says Brandon is the sort of quarterback who “may be the catalyst for a number of Faculty Soccer Playoff runs.”
That will be nice information for Tennessee — the place Brandon has been dedicated to since August 2024 — as this system is coming off its first playoff look a season in the past. It is comprehensible if Tennessee followers, licking their wounds over how issues labored out with their final five-star quarterback to information a playoff run, are nonetheless holding again some pleasure. Right here comes one other well-compensated, extremely regarded QB and NIL trailblazer (extra on that later).
However Brandon is not Nico Iamaleava. The Tennessee quarterback commit has the proper disposition — and a robust assist system to again it up — to handle this new period of faculty soccer.
“You’ll by no means know if he threw 5 touchdowns or if he simply threw 5 straight incompletions, he is the identical on the sphere,” Darryl Brown, Brandon’s highschool coach, instructed CBS Sports activities. “He would not present a ton of emotion, he would not get down when issues aren’t going effectively. I believe that make-up will profit him. He would not should be loud and vocal; having that calm demeanor goes to assist him.”
Says Brandon, “That is simply who I’m. I am not the sort to get too hype or get too low. Simply keep even.”
If he can hold that mentality when he is enjoying in entrance of 100,000-plus followers in SEC stadiums, he’ll be effectively on his technique to success. It has already carried him this far as the kind of QB and teammate that each program within the nation would like to have on its campus. Many have tried to get him to rethink his Vols dedication, together with a couple of SEC rivals, although Brandon is locked into enjoying for Josh Heupel. He loves the offensive scheme and is worked up about enjoying for not solely Heupel but in addition offensive coordinator Joey Halzle, his main recruiter.
“I like that he performed quarterback,” Brandon says about his future coach. “He is aware of methods to coach a quarterback. How calm he’s within the sport even when they don’t seem to be up.”
Even whereas admitting he was excited when he grew to become ranked the No. 1 general participant, it was shortly again to work and no altering of the routine that bought him to that lofty perch within the first place. Everybody you ask about Brandon raves about his humbleness and the way well-liked he’s throughout the neighborhood.
With that mentality has come super success at Grimsley Excessive Faculty in North Carolina. Grimsley holds one of many nation’s longest win streaks and has gone 29-1 with Brandon because the starter, which features a good 16-0 file and state championship final season. Brandon scored 4 touchdowns within the state title sport (3 passing, 1 dashing), however what outsiders do not know, his coach says, is how a lot he sacrificed alongside the way in which to win that championship.
“We had a very good working again and lots of people assume that we’re throwing it 40, 50 occasions a sport, and there is nights the place we threw it 10 occasions as a result of that is what it took for us to win,” Brown stated. “He is simply prepared to do no matter it takes. I believe that speaks volumes concerning the sort of child he’s and the sort of participant he’s.”
Whereas Brandon would not search the highlight, it discovered him when he made nationwide headlines nearly precisely a 12 months in the past when his mom, Rolanda, filed a lawsuit on his behalf, suing the state of North Carolina for proscribing public highschool athletes from profiting off their NIL rights. A giant transfer like that’s going to upset individuals and Brandon confronted backlash over it, however it wasn’t merely about him being profitable. That was a element, little doubt, and the criticism references a profitable advertising take care of a buying and selling card firm Brandon was unable to revenue from due to North Carolina legal guidelines.
Brandon was the face of the motion, however it was meant to learn everybody. It struck the Brandon household as significantly unfair that non-public faculty college students in North Carolina might accomplish that whereas public college students could not. And when a decide dominated in Brandon’s favor, it opened the doorways for each North Carolina highschool athlete to monetize their NIL rights. In typical Brandon trend, for those who hadn’t seen the nationwide headlines, you’ll don’t know he had simply scored a significant authorized victory. He by no means introduced it as much as his teammates or made an enormous deal about it at school.
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Brown says that lawsuit modified highschool soccer in North Carolina. Whereas he was by no means that involved about Brandon leaving Grimsley, he thinks different prime public highschool gamers would have left for personal colleges if the principles by no means modified.
“I supported them one hundred pc, and I believe they went about it the suitable manner,” Brown says. “They weren’t flamboyant about it, they only dealt with their enterprise behind the scenes. Clearly, it is nice for Faizon, however I actually assume that the rationale they pursued it’s for the youngsters that come behind them, and if it hadn’t have occurred, I believe you may have seen a lack of youngsters leaving public colleges.”
There have been alternatives for Brandon to reclassify and enroll early at Tennessee this spring after Iamaleava left this system in April, however he opted to complete his senior season at Grimsley. The trail to a repeat state championship begins Friday, Aug. 22 towards West Charlotte. The aim is to double that 16-game successful streak and add a 3rd state title in 4 seasons. From there, he is anticipated to graduate in December and be in Knoxville earlier than he turns 18-years outdated.
The unflappable inheritor to the Tennessee QB throne is prepared for what’s subsequent. In what has been an offseason of drama for Tennessee, the longer term is even brighter with Brandon on the way in which quickly.
