Bray chose to accept Tennessee's offer after he had already verbally committed to San Diego State.

[5][6] In his freshman season at the University of Tennessee under head coach Derek Dooley in 2010, Bray appeared in nine games.

On September 4, 2010, Bray made his first appearance for the Volunteers in the season-opening home victory at Neyland Stadium over Tennessee-Martin.

[15][16] The next week against Ole Miss at home, Bray finished 18–of-34 for 323 yards with five touchdowns as the Vols defeated the Rebels by a score of 52–14.

[19][20] During the final home game of the season against Kentucky, Bray led Tennessee to a 24–14 victory while going 20–38 for 354 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

In the season opener at home, Bray completed 17–of-24 passes while throwing for 293 yards and three touchdowns against Montana in a 42–16 victory.

[27][28] In the victory over the Bearcats, Bray broke former Tennessee All-American quarterback Peyton Manning's record by throwing at least two touchdown passes in eight consecutive games.

On Tennessee's opening drive, sophomore wide receiver Justin Hunter went down with a torn ACL.

[31] The attitude of the team was noticeably different due to the absence of Hunter and the Vols ended up losing to Florida by a score of 33–23 in The Swamp.

Against the Georgia Bulldogs at home, Bray broke his thumb late in the game and would be sidelined for several weeks.

[35][36] Because of his injury, Bray would not play in the next five games (against LSU, Alabama, South Carolina, Middle Tennessee, and Arkansas).

[38] Bray came back during the Vanderbilt game and led the Vols to a much-needed home victory against the Commodores.

[39][40] In the final game of the season, the Vols lost to the Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 10–7 at Commonwealth Stadium.

The season started off promising in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta against NC State.

[48] The loss against the Gators, which was the program's eighth consecutive in the rivalry, exposed a serious problem with the Volunteers in the 2012 season, which was their defense.

[50] The next week, against Georgia Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium, Bray passed for 281 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions in the 51–44 loss.

[51] Two weeks later, the Vols faced Mississippi State at Davis Wade Stadium and lose by a score of 41–31.

The next week against the Troy Trojans at home marked a career day for Bray but a very ominous reality for the Tennessee football team as a whole.

For Bray's career of 28 games, he landed on several Tennessee all-time career lists: On January 9, 2013, Bray, along with college teammates Cordarrelle Patterson, Justin Hunter, and Darrington Sentimore, announced his intention to leave college early and declare for the 2013 NFL draft.

He completed 14-of-25 passing attempts and threw for 169 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception and played a key role in the 30–8 Chiefs win.

He was promoted to the active roster on November 21, 2018, to serve as the backup to Chase Daniel following an injury to starter Mitchell Trubisky.

[79][80] He was promoted to the active roster on October 5, 2019, serving as the backup to Chase Daniel, who was making his first start of the year against the Oakland Raiders in place of an injured Trubisky.

[89] Further elevations took place later in the season after Trubisky was injured, in Weeks 9 and 10 against the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings, respectively.