Well at least Tennessee Football and Josh Heupel have their guy. It’s the perfect situation for the Vols too. UT landed transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar, who left UCLA after Nico Iamaleava transferred to the Bruins, in what could honestly be called the first effective trade in the history of the sport.
Aguilar, who stands at 6’3″ 220 pounds, has spent the past two years with the Appalachian State Mountaineers, where in two years as a starter he completed 60.1 percent of his passes for 6,760 yards, 56 touchdowns, 24 interceptions and eight yards per attempt while rushing for 452 yards and five scores. Before that, he spent two years in junior college.
With one year of eligibility left, Aguilar can start for Tennessee Football this year, and the Vols can then have open competition among George MacIntyre, Jake Merklinger and Faizon Brandon next spring. Josh Heupel got exactly what he needed, but just how much quality can Aguilar bring to the table?
That’s obviously a loaded question, so the real question is this: how does he compare to Iamaleava? Well, again, it’s complicated. On the surface, the best bet is that he’ll be better than Iamaleava was last year but not as good as Iamaleava would have been for the Vols this year.
Considered a gunslinger with mobility, Aguilar has all the physical tools to be successful in Heupel’s system. Last year, though, his production took a significant step back. He completed just 55.9 percent of his passes for 3,003 yards, 23 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and 7.7 yards per attempt while rushing for 207 yards and two touchdowns.
In the process, Appalachian State went from 9-5 and playing for the Sun Belt Championship to 5-6 and Shawn Clark getting fired despite offensive coordinator Frank Ponce being on the job both years. By contrast, Nico Iamaleava led Tennessee Football to the College Football Playoff and had better stats across the board against tougher competition.
Wouldn’t that suggest the Vols downgraded?
It depends on how you look at the situation. Aguilar lost a ton of the talent around him to transfers last year and had little to work with, and the defense put even more pressure on him. Also, the year before, in 2023, he put up significantly better numbers than Iamaleava.
Decision-making can come into question a bit more when you have less talent. The good news for Aguilar, though, is that Heupel’s offense is simple enough for quarterbacks that they don’t have to make a lot of tough decisions. As a result, his gunslinging skills can reach peak production.
If you hooked Heupel up to a lie detector test, he would probably say he wished he had Iamaleava back because of what the potential was, but Tennessee Football will get better quarterback play than last year. Add in the intangibles that Aguilar reportedly has, and he could get even more out of his teammates.
