Tennessee trending for 2025 5-star QB George MacIntyre, decision date could be on the horizon

Collin-headshotby:Collin Ginnan01/11/24

GinnanCollin

Three schools remain in the top three for Nashville Brentwood Academy 2025 five-star quarterback George MacIntyre — LSU, Alabama and Tennessee. Alabama and Tennessee especially appear to stand out for MacIntyre, and after the news of Nick Saban’s retirement, the Vols began to trend in MacIntyre’s recruitment.

Following picks from On3’s Josh Newberg, as well as others in the recruiting industry, the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine gives the Vols an 89.2% chance of landing their second five-star quarterback in three years.

Tennessee trending for MacIntyre

Tennessee recruiting insider Austin Price joined The Inside Scoop football recruiting show to talk about the Vols’ efforts to sway MacIntyre.

“Yeah I mean, I think Josh Heupel has done a really nice job in this recruitment,” Price said. “Tennessee has been right there are the forefront. George — I told you then, my exact words were — ‘If you’re trying to read anything George MacIntyre is doing, you are going to fail.’ And that goes for anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s Chad Simmons, guys at the other networks. It doesn’t matter. George is maybe like, the most flatline, cool customer you can’t read. If that kid was good at poker, he’d make millions because he is fantastic and maddening if you’re trying to follow him.

“So I just think he’s a really good kid. He’s got a burning desire to win, didn’t win enough this past year at the high school level and I know he is just driven to flip that going into his senior year. But Tennessee has done a really nice job with George. Super talented kid, freak athlete. Got to continue to put weight on, and he knows that’s very much an important thing. But I mean, the kid can throw it from several different angles with his arm. Throws on the move extremely, extremely well. Just, I think he is if not the top, one of the top couple of quarterbacks in the country for that 2025 class.”

Other schools will continue to pursue

According to Price, MacIntyre’s recruitment appears to still be between LSU, Alabama and Tennessee. No other surprise programs have obviously entered the mix.

“Well I mean, other schools are going to continue to recruit George,” Price said. “But his top three of LSU, Alabama and Tennessee — I mean, Alabama doesn’t have a coach. LSU just got Bryce Underwood. And of course you have the Vols, who again, George has been feeling Tennessee for quite a while in my opinion. So again, there’s going to be teams that continue to call him, and they should, right? That’s pretty natural for anybody.

“But I don’t think there’s just one set team that you go — you know what, that team is lurking in the weeds for George MacIntyre, you have to pay attention to them. I think right now, it’s kind of like everybody will reassess here in the next couple months as this thing continues to unfold.”

MacIntyre has yet to announce a decision date, but Price said that announcement could come sooner rather than later.

“He’s not announced his decision date yet. You know, I think the rubber is meeting the road, though. I think it’s going to be probably in the next week or so. This is a kid, again, who likes to play everything close to the vest so we’ll kind of wait and see when he drops his official date.”

Tennessee hopes to land its 2025 QB early on

As for Tennessee, this would again be another massive win at the quarterback position.

“I think it’s massive. I think, you know, for Tennessee, they’ve got a big Junior Day next weekend. They’ve got one coming up on February 3. And to have George potentially in the boat by next weekend, maybe be in town, maybe in town on February 3 would be big for Tennessee. Because you look at Radarious Jackson, you look at Cameron Sparks, you look at Caleb Cunningham. Right on down the list, there’s a lot of targets that George talks to on a routine basis.

Then there’s the offensive linemen — David Sanders, Josh Petty. All players that Tennessee is heavily involved in. So getting your franchise quarterback in the boat early on would be big for Josh Heupel and Tennessee.”