Josh Heupel made a curious quarterback decision in Tennessee Vols' win over UAB, but there may have been a hidden reason why he did

There wasn't much to criticize from the Tennessee Vols' 56-24 win over the UAB Blazers in Week 4.

Tennessee basically had the game won by halftime as they carried a 42-7 lead into the locker room.

Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar played just one series in the second half before handing the ball over to redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger.

At that point, the expectation was that Merklinger would receive a few series and then true freshman George MacIntyre would see a few series.

But that's not what happened. Despite the game being out of hand, MacIntyre never entered the game, much to the dismay of many Vols fans.

There are a couple of reasons that may explain why Josh Heupel didn't put George MacIntyre into the game against UAB

We don't know for sure why Vols head coach Josh Heupel didn't play MacIntyre, who some believe is the most talented quarterback on the roster (albeit the most inexperienced, too), in the fourth quarter against UAB.

But based on the current landscape of college football, there are a couple of reasons that make some sense.

For starters, it's clear that Merklinger is QB 2 on Tennessee's depth chart (at least for now). If something happens to Aguilar -- like when Nico Iamaleava missed the second half of the Mississippi State game last year due to a concussion -- it'll probably be Merklinger that finishes the game. Getting your primary backup quarterback, who still doesn't have many reps at the collegiate level, as much game action as possible isn't a bad idea.

The other reason that makes sense -- and this says a lot about Heupel if it's the case -- is that it seems unlikely that Merklinger and MacIntyre are both on the roster next season with 2026 five-star quarterback Faizon Brandon on the way. I would bet on Merklinger entering the portal after this season. If he does, then what he puts on tape this fall will be extremely valuable for him. That could be the difference in a big NIL pay day for the Georgia native (in which case, kudos to Heupel for helping his player out).

Conversely -- and I'm not as convinced that this is the reason for Heupel's decision (but it's a possibility) -- the Vols may want to "hide" MacIntyre as much as possible this season so he isn't bombarded with offers to transfer this winter. That's a real concern that college football coaches have to consider these days due to the current climate of the sport.

A lot of folks, including myself, were surprised that MacIntyre didn't receive any action against UAB. Heupel, though, is no dummy (far from it). I'm sure there was a reason why he made the decision to not play MacIntyre against UAB. And these are the only reasons I can think of that make sense.

window.addEventListener('message', function (event) {if (event.data.totalpoll && event.data.totalpoll.action === 'resizeHeight') {document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-1476').height = event.data.totalpoll.value;}}, false);document.querySelector('#totalpoll-iframe-1476').contentWindow.postMessage({totalpoll: {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*');