ARCH ALERT: Tennessee Football to BATTLE Arch Manning, Marcel Reed—SEC QB Rankings REVEALED

Locked On Vols - Daily Podcast On Tennessee Volunteers Football & Basketball

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4.8 • 797 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Arch Manning is set to play at Neyland Stadium as Texas’s starting quarterback, presenting Tennessee’s defense with its toughest test of the season for the SEC opener. Can the Volunteers contain Manning’s dual-threat ability and disrupt his impressive momentum, or is another legendary Manning moment in Knoxville on the horizon, but this one against the Vols? Eric Cain power-ranks every SEC quarterback Tennessee will face, spotlighting standouts like Marcel Reed (Texas A&M), Sam Leavitt (LSU), and LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), while examining the impact of new coaching hires and offensive systems across the conference. The episode also analyzes the upside and uncertainty of Tennessee’s own QB battle between George MacIntyre and Faizon Brandon, and weighs how surrounding playmakers—like Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley—could tilt the scales. Get strategic breakdowns, statistical highlights, and bold predictions for the Volunteers’ SEC slate. Who will emerge as the league’s breakout playmaker, and what could define Tennessee’s season?

Transcript

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0:00.0	November 29th, 1997, the last time of Manning played quarterback inside Neeland Stadium,
0:05.9	that's going to change this fall, and Archmanning will be the best quarterback that Tennessee's defense faces all year long.
0:17.3	You are Locked on Balls, your daily podcast on the Tennessee Volunteers, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
0:27.2	What's good, everybody? Welcome into it. This is Locked On Vols. I'm your host, Terry Kane, and today's episode is presented by the great people over at FanDual Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can bet just $5.00, get $150 in bonus
0:39.5	bets if your first bet wins. Head on over to fandle.com today to go ahead and get started.
0:44.0	Got a big show coming up here over the next 30 minutes, where George McIntyre and Faison
0:49.3	Brandon would rank on the SEC quarterback power rankings. We're going to work through those,
0:53.6	but channel in specifically 1 through 9,
0:57.0	the quarterback's Tennessee's defense is going to face in 2026.
1:00.5	We're going to start from the top, work our way to the bottom,
1:02.5	and then we're going to tell you where Faison and George McIntyre would square off in these rankings as well.
1:07.9	All that more here on a Monday lockdown balls.
1:10.0	We're starting at the top.
1:11.3	Number one is going to be Texas starting quarterback and a familiar name to Tennessee fans.
1:17.1	That is Manning and Arch Manning. September 26th, the home game, it is the SEC opener at
1:22.7	Neeland Stadium. And Arch Manning is going to be the best Tennessee quarterback because
1:26.4	simply I think that his ceiling is the highest of any quarterback on the schedule.
1:31.1	I understand in 2026 his first year as a, or 2025 rather last year, his first year as a true starting quarterback, everyday starting quarterback, very inconsistent at times.
1:41.9	Really kind of took a while to kind of work up and gear up in a little bit.
1:44.9	But, you know, the way he finished the season was really impressive, in my opinion.
1:49.1	And he's one of many quarterbacks that we're going to talk about here today in terms of the challenges for Tennessee's defense, that being dual threat.
1:56.8	Archmanning might be the most athletic quarterback outside of the North Sellers.
	...

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