Faizon Brandon opened his Tennessee career with a five-touchdown debut, and Mike Matthews was on the other end of two deep balls. Both met with the media after the win over Furman.
Brandon finished the day 13-of-17 for 226 yards and three touchdowns through the air. He also rushed 10 times for 68 yards and two touchdowns. His five touchdowns tied him for the Tennessee freshman single game touchdown record. Matthews recorded 132 yards and two touchdowns on four receptions.
Q: Faizon, what was pregame like for you this morning? Were you nervous? How were you feeling?
Brandon: “I would say I was definitely nervous, not too nervous. You know, I feel like I had a great week of preparation, so I feel like I would go out there and do pretty good, and, you know, a lot of great guys around me to help me do that also.”
Q: Mike, what kind of fall camp have you had and how locked in have you been since the spring? To start the season with over 100 yards and a couple of touchdowns, how much confidence does that give you heading back home to your hometown?
Matthews: “Yeah, it just, you know, it really fills me up, just make me proud of what happened. But, you know, coming up, I got to lock in this next week and get ready for the game, just prepare and just be who I am.”
Q: How does it feel to connect with each other on those two deep balls?
Brandon: “It felt good. You know, we’ve been doing it all fall camp and spring ball. So just to be out there, we’ll be able to go out there and do it, you know, in front of all the fans, it felt pretty good.”
Matthews: “Yeah, it was just like practice, you know. A lot of our deep balls have just been on point every time, so it wasn’t nothing new that I was used to.”
Q: Faizon, did you expect to run that much today? What’s the line between choosing when to run and when to stay in the pocket, and how do you balance that?
Brandon: “I feel like it just kind of comes with it, you know. I guess as the flow of the game was going, if something wasn’t there, just getting outside the pocket and try to get a positive play and not take any negative.”
Q: How much confidence do you have when you get out of the pocket and get upfield like that?
Brandon: “I’m very confident. I’ve been doing a lot of stuff with D.O., just helping put on weight and getting me stronger, faster. I feel very confident when I get outside the pocket.”
Q: Mike, you got to play a little bit as a true freshman. What does it say about your quarterback to earn the job and then have a day like he had today in his first ever college game?
Matthews: “It’s really just great to see, you know. He’s been working hard, really ever since he got to Tennessee. And it’s all just showing everything he put in. And, I mean, just like normal, you know, just in practice he do the same thing. So just translate that to games, just nothing new.”
Q: Faizon, with this being your first college game, how did the pace feel as you got deeper into it?
Brandon: “At first, it kind of felt a little fast. Not too fast, but it definitely slowed down. After, I would say, the second drive, it kind of just felt very smooth and just started to come together.”
Q: How did you visualize this game would be? It’s been a long ramp to get here. You had five touchdowns. Is that what you thought would happen?
Brandon: “I thought something like that, just looking over the call sheet, envisioning all the plays that we had on there, just seeing all the big plays in my head the night before. And just really going out there and just trying to execute everything that we did, and I ended up doing that.”
Q: When you look at a game plan, can you see that far out, that this play is probably going to hit? Does it get that specific?
Brandon: “Yes, and, you know, I don’t try to do too much with it, you know, just try to do what Coach Joey tells me and just go with them lines and just do what I do in practice.”
Q: Faizon, going back to your two touchdowns to Mike, how nice is it to have a veteran receiver like that, whether it’s busted coverage and you get him all by himself or it’s tight coverage and he can take care of the rest?
Brandon: “It’s very nice. Really just all the receivers, they helped me a lot ever since I first got here, just making plays for me. And, you know, even if it isn’t a perfect ball, them going up and attacking it and making me look good at the end of the day. So I’m very grateful to have all those guys and Mike also.”
Q: Can both of you talk about that first touchdown and what led to Mike being so wide open? Faizon, did you have a role in that too?
Matthews: “I think it was really just off our play action and me just attacking the safety with speed and him just not understanding whether it’s going to be a run or a pass. So he usually just plays down to it. But just like in practice, I think we read through it two times and it played out the same way and it was the same result. So I was confident going into the play.”
Brandon: “Yeah, it’s just heavy play action right there, you know, to make the safety think it was a run. And then Mike just doing what he does outside and just letting him go make a play.”
Q: How much of a confidence builder was today?
Matthews: “It’s a pretty good confidence builder, but, I mean, I’ve been working hard this offseason. I already kind of knew that my heart was going to show when I play on the field, so I tried to play with heart. And God put me in a good position, and he planned out the right way.”
Q: On the depth of the wide receiver room, what did you see out of the younger guys?
Matthews: “I really just seen what I always knew they would be. They’re all good receivers, they’re all working, and they’re always just a problem on the field. And just to see them all outside doing their thing and playing ball, and me kind of just thinking about when I was coaching with them. And just going through the spring and the offseason, just trying to get them boys on point and them seeing that on the field, it’s great to see.”
