Josh Heupel reacts to spring game performance of Jake Merklinger, George MacIntyre

Tennessee QBs Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre have been thrust into the spotlight the past few days with the departure of Nico Iamaleava. That included them being the full focus of the Volunteers’ spring game this weekend.

Following that outing inside Neyland Stadium on Saturday, Josh Heupel commented on the performances of his team’s remaining quarterbacks. He thought they played fairly well, considering all things, with aspects he liked and areas he knows they’ll continue to improve on.

“I thought they did a, a really good job, uh, today for the most part,” said Heupel. “Obviously, Merk had the one pick, um, on the double move, where the safety is the player in the middle of the field. But, for the most part, they handled the operation pretty well. You know, there was a couple checks that, that we can clean up, just some of the operation side of it and, and the ultimate check. But, you know, they moved the football, made plays, thought they used their feet. Obviously, they weren’t live. They’re going to have to learn how to protect themselves out in space. But it was a great day for both of them as young players, being out in front of that crowd, having to be the guy and go operate.”

Again, the circumstances were unplanned with what happened with Iamaleava from Thursday through Saturday. That’s why Heupel wanted them, like the rest of the team, to just take it all in and handle it the best they could.

“Go have fun and compete today. It’s not going to be perfect. Never will be,” said Heupel. “Same thing that I said to the team. You know, there’s a way that you’ve got to operate from snap to the whistle and then you’ve got to learn how to operate from the whistle to the next snap too.”

Merklinger, a former-four star, made two appearances as a reserve last season as QB3 for the Volunteers behind Iamaleava and Gaston Moore. He’d complete six-of-nine passes for 48 yards, and rush for 22 yards and 3.1 per carry, against Chattanooga and Kent State in the first three weeks of the season.

MacIntyre is then a four-star, in-state quarterback recruit for the Vols out of Nashville. He rated in the Top-200 nationally and as a Top-15 QB, per On3’s Industry Ranking for 2025, out of Brentwood Academy as one of their higher-ranked signees in their class.

Unless they go recruiting for a quarterback in the transfer portal starting tomorrow, these two, a redshirt and true freshman, will be the options for quarterback at Tennessee. Merklinger and MacIntyre have a ways to go, though, now that they know they’ve suddenly gone from likely backups to possible starters coming out of the spring

“I thought those guys did a good job,” Heupel said.