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Faizon Brandon has spent the past six months fighting for Tennessee football's starting quarterback job. On July 25, he brought that energy to Knoxville-area kids instead.
The five-star freshman hosted his first Knoxville-area football camp at Anderson County High School in Clinton, drawing more than 100 kids and raising $12,520 for Tennessee Children's Home.
The city has embraced him since he got here, and Brandon said he wanted to give some of that back.
"Knoxville has been treating me really well," Brandon said. "It kind of feels like where I'm from, with how nice the people are. I have nothing bad to say about Knoxville."
The camp originally raised $6,260 for Tennessee Children's Home, which Brandon matched dollar for dollar.
"This donation means a lot," said Chris Doughtie, director of development at Tennessee Children's Home. "We work with kids who are coming through tough spots in their life, and this is going to make a difference for over 100 kids a day that we serve. A donation of this amount really does open your eyes a little and makes you think how about much they care about kids."
Brandon traced the cause back to his own time spent around kids at a Knoxville children's hospital, with his family helping steer where the donation would go.
The goodwill doesn't decide who starts in September, however. Brandon, the No. 3 overall recruit and quarterback in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports, arrived at Tennessee with a 35-1 record and back-to-back state titles at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. He enrolled in January and has spent the offseason pushing redshirt freshman George MacIntyre for the QB1 spot.
None of that came up at his camp, though. Brandon and his team wanted the day to be solely about the kids and their reps.
Knoxville Catholic High School coach Josh Jones helped run the camp. He and Brandon settled on three goals for the campers: Have fun, compete, and learn something worth bringing back to their own teams.
"When (Spyre Sports Group) called me a couple months ago and asked me to help them out, anything for kids, anything for football, I'm like, the answer is yes," Jones said. "I'm in a busy time right now with our season, but it's a weekend. Get out here, have fun with the kids."
Jones added that based on what he saw, the state of East Tennessee football is in good hands.
"Saw some arms out here, saw some guys that can catch, some guys that can run, some guys that can block, some guys that can tackle," Jones said. "Pretty well-rounded group out here. There's guys from a lot of different communities inside of Knoxville and outside of it. There will be a lot of talent dispersed in the East Tennessee area coming up."
While the rest of his staff rotated campers through the other stations, Brandon stayed close to the quarterback drills, trading high-fives between reps and getting in on the action himself, throwing to any camper who wanted one.
Every camper left with a T-shirt that doubled as a ticket for a free meal at Whataburger and an autographed camp card. Brandon closed the evening with one last group photo.
He hosted his first camp last year in Greensboro, and while the city has changed, his mission has not.
"It kind of feels the same," Brandon said. "It's a lot of kids with good energy, all with smiles on their faces."
Xavier Burton is a sports intern for Knox News. Email: [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Faizon Brandon steps away from Tennessee's QB battle to give back to East Tennessee
Continue reading...
The five-star freshman hosted his first Knoxville-area football camp at Anderson County High School in Clinton, drawing more than 100 kids and raising $12,520 for Tennessee Children's Home.
The city has embraced him since he got here, and Brandon said he wanted to give some of that back.
"Knoxville has been treating me really well," Brandon said. "It kind of feels like where I'm from, with how nice the people are. I have nothing bad to say about Knoxville."
The camp originally raised $6,260 for Tennessee Children's Home, which Brandon matched dollar for dollar.
"This donation means a lot," said Chris Doughtie, director of development at Tennessee Children's Home. "We work with kids who are coming through tough spots in their life, and this is going to make a difference for over 100 kids a day that we serve. A donation of this amount really does open your eyes a little and makes you think how about much they care about kids."
Brandon traced the cause back to his own time spent around kids at a Knoxville children's hospital, with his family helping steer where the donation would go.
The goodwill doesn't decide who starts in September, however. Brandon, the No. 3 overall recruit and quarterback in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports, arrived at Tennessee with a 35-1 record and back-to-back state titles at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. He enrolled in January and has spent the offseason pushing redshirt freshman George MacIntyre for the QB1 spot.
None of that came up at his camp, though. Brandon and his team wanted the day to be solely about the kids and their reps.
Knoxville Catholic High School coach Josh Jones helped run the camp. He and Brandon settled on three goals for the campers: Have fun, compete, and learn something worth bringing back to their own teams.
"When (Spyre Sports Group) called me a couple months ago and asked me to help them out, anything for kids, anything for football, I'm like, the answer is yes," Jones said. "I'm in a busy time right now with our season, but it's a weekend. Get out here, have fun with the kids."
Jones added that based on what he saw, the state of East Tennessee football is in good hands.
"Saw some arms out here, saw some guys that can catch, some guys that can run, some guys that can block, some guys that can tackle," Jones said. "Pretty well-rounded group out here. There's guys from a lot of different communities inside of Knoxville and outside of it. There will be a lot of talent dispersed in the East Tennessee area coming up."
While the rest of his staff rotated campers through the other stations, Brandon stayed close to the quarterback drills, trading high-fives between reps and getting in on the action himself, throwing to any camper who wanted one.
Every camper left with a T-shirt that doubled as a ticket for a free meal at Whataburger and an autographed camp card. Brandon closed the evening with one last group photo.
He hosted his first camp last year in Greensboro, and while the city has changed, his mission has not.
"It kind of feels the same," Brandon said. "It's a lot of kids with good energy, all with smiles on their faces."
Xavier Burton is a sports intern for Knox News. Email: [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Faizon Brandon steps away from Tennessee's QB battle to give back to East Tennessee
Continue reading...
