Tennessee jumped into the trending position for five-star quarterback George MacIntyre on Thursday according to On3 Sports’ Recruiting Prediction Machine.
The in-state quarterback from Nashville’s Brentwood Academy is ranked as the No. 15 player in the nation, the No. 2 quarterback in the class of 2025, and the top-ranked player from the state of Tennessee.
And now, according to the predictions, MacIntyre is trending towards Tennessee.
On3 Sports had the 6-foot-6, 185-pound quarterback leaning toward Alabama, one of his three finalists along with Tennessee and LSU, on Wednesday. Here on Thursday, though, Tennessee has the overwhelming prediction. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Tennessee at 89.2 percent followed by Alabama at 4.2 percent and LSU at 1.3 percent at the time of this publication.
The big event between now and then was the retirement announcement from Alabama head coach Nick Saban. With the Crimson Tide in momentary coaching limbo, Tennessee might be using the opportunity to strike. The Vols’ coaching staff has been in constant communication with MacIntyre throughout the recruiting cycle and have been able to see him play a good bit with how close Knoxville and Nashville are.
More from RTI: Could a Former Vol Be Up For The Patriots Coaching Job?
The impact of Saban’s coaching decision impacting MacIntyre’s decision seems to also line up with what 247 Sports is saying.
Steve Wiltfong, the Director for Football Recruiting for 247 Sports, locked in a Crystal Ball prediction for MacIntyre to Tennessee at 7:26 p.m. ET on Wednesday, just about two and a half hours after the Saban retirement news officially broke from ESPN’s Chris Low. Where there is smoke, there is fire – for now, at least.
There’s no announcement date officially scheduled for MacIntyre’s decision, but the in-state product did tell On3 Sports that a decision is on its way fairly soon.
Josh Heupel, a former National Championship-winning quarterback and the head coach of Tennessee, has already landed quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who was the top overall prospect in the 2023 rankings according to On3. Iamaleava led Tennessee to a Citrus Bowl victory on New Year’s Day and is set to take over as the Vols’ starting quarterback in 2024.
Tennessee also signed four-star quarterback Jake Merklinger (Savannah, GA) from the 2024 signing class who is also an early enrollee with the Vols’ program right now.
MacIntyre, with his current rankings according to 247, would be Tennessee’s 14th highest-ranked commitment in program history and the second highest-ranked quarterback Tennessee has behind only Nico Iamaleava. That sort of achievement would certainly be a feather in the cap of Josh Heupel.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more news on George MacIntyre’s recruitment after the big Nick Saban news on Wednesday night.
