QB Joey Aguilar commits to UT from portal

[sonofUT62]

At 7:40 I thought he did, but it was the running back.

Yes.

 

[xpsyclonex2002]

I think this season is going to be one continuous QB competition.

 

[Doctrippin]

This may end up a Hollywood movie in 10 years Hoss

Vols history could be a whole series going all the way back to Kiffin, then the Dooley fiasco, Butch's total meltdown. the Schiano night of the long knives, the Gruden jet tracker, then the Phil Fulmer coup that upended the AD, the McDonaldsGate that forced Fulmer and Pruitt out. Just when things get stable, you get NicoGate. You throw in all the behind the scenes drama with the Haslams basically playing the Ewing family in Dallas and orchestrating everything behind the scenes. I think only Auburn can rival us in football program drama and intrigue.

 

[bpalmer28]

PREDICTION:

Vol fans will start calling for a change at QB as soon as Aguilar throws his first interception. Heupel will stick with Aguilar. He will go on to pass for 2,800 yards with 25 TDs and 10 INTs.

 

[Volhoops]

JH can get the picks down. Hooker, Milton and Nico were all different QBs but all 3 were low interception totals. I think JHs offense helps with that. He has a short amount of time to learn the offense but he has what the other 2 on roster don't and that's experience.

Isn't the only way to get experience is to actually play ? Nico had none until the bowl game. Our current red shirt QB would have gotten his experience in the first game experience against Syracuse which is not a typically strong team and then a cream puff. So we play a portal guy for one year and come spring next year he is gone and we still have three QBs with no experience going into next season so we portal again for experience. No offense to the guy, I'm just trying to make sense of how this works out for UT in the long run.

 

[Pride85]

the whole situation is just bad. not in any way th fault of Tennessee but this has 2010 Lane Kiffin written all over it. Kiffin went to the west coast into a worse situation for him and Tennessee nosedived into oblivion.

I don't see this happening because of ONE entitled player. In making this move, CJH solidified the team. Had he caved, I truly believe he would have lost the team before summer workouts even began.

 

[Pride85]

Both fully expected to be behind the starter before NI left. I’m sure CJH told them he would get another QB & all compete for the job. I don’t think GMac family is comfortable him starting this year cause (they preferred he redshirt I heard) there’s like zero chance he’d get thru 12 games not injured. Merk would be silly to transfer now. Even if he’s 2nd team, he’s 1 play away from being a starter in his RS freshman season.

Agreed. I still am confident it was told to those two that the competition was still real. I saw several very positive reports about Merklinger in the practice reports. If Aquilar is as much as a gunslinger as reported and has any wheels at all, he might be a golden fit for this offense.

 

[YankeeVol]

 

[TrueOrange]

So was Hooker until Heupel

Not really? 17 TDs to 2 INTs in 2019. He only played in 6 or 7 games in 2020 and had one 3 INT game to skew his numbers somewhat to a final 9 TDs to 5 INTs during the COVID year…but that’s still like 7 total over a 2 season period.

 

[crnanancy]

Well, we blew that about as badly as it could be blown.

Aguilar is about the best of what is remaining in the portal. I doubt if anyone wanted to be “poached” to UT for fear of being painted by the same conniving, disloyal, self-serving brush as Nico and company. Glad we have another QB on board.

 

[benchod]

I feel like UCLA owes us draft picks or expiring contracts or something.

When Nico realizes his offensive line just shrunk by 20 pounds and gets hammered, it will be all the payback we need.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

Well, this guy was a 2-star recruit on Rivals when he signed with Appalachian State. Gives us some depth but I hope Merk wins the job.

 

[AstonRoyal]

We likely won’t know who the starter will be until the first snap against Syracuse

 

[GVF]

Just as long as the QB room has 3 guys, and thats a short room. Play ball..

There's always 1, maybe 2 walk-ons come official roster release for the fall. The fall roster should be listing 4-5 QB's total with this signing.

 

[landscapingvol]

PREDICTION:

Vol fans will start calling for a change at QB as soon as Aguilar throws his first interception. Heupel will stick with Aguilar. He will go on to pass for 2,800 yards with 25 TDs and 10 INTs.

Everybody keeps pointing to his 2024 season while ignoring his 2023 season where he threw 3700 yards, 33 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. Those are great numbers, last year App State lost their leading rusher and most of their oline. He may come in and be terrible but I wouldn't put too much emphasis on last year as opposed to 2023. He played hurt much of last season and forced a lot of throws in games where they were down early. I am not making excuses for him because he may fail at UT but I can understand why his numbers dropped off from 2023.

 

[GVF]

Sure we did. We only picked up a 3rd QB, which we had to have for depth. He has upside, plays with a chip and didn't cost us an arm and a leg in the NIL department. Now we can use that money to bring in other positions that need to be filled. No QB was going to come in and really grasp a completely new offense by the start of the season. Why would we really want to pay a huge sum for that? Somehow, I think Coach knows a little bit more about handling this than you.

I'd wager he met what CJH was looking for. Someone that has enough to possibly win hte job, but was good coming in knowing he may be QB2 and has 4 months to win QB1. And Merck knows he's not out as QB1, but also has the same 4 months to now win QB1. Aguilar checked all the boxes. Didn't cost you either of your two highly rated QB's as they were closing out spring practice till the last day knowing they'd still be back-ups in '25. But, Merck now has a shot to shine, and GMac is still where he was expected to be regardless. No harm, no foul. Aguilar appears to have skills that were good enough to get offered the spot, so if he's good enough to win out over the next 4 months, so be it.

 

[GVF]

I like the pickup. We don't "steal" a starter, we add depth we absolutely had to have, and we still allow Merk a chance to win the job because he's probably up next in the portal if he doesn't.

Hopefully not. If he doesn't win the job, he was #2 for '25 anyways before things changed. So, his season won't unfold differently if Aguilar wins out than if nico hadn't effed up. And if he does end up still #2, he may get more field time this year to polish up cause Aguilar is definitely a one year get on eligibility to patch the hole. Now, if they had brought in someone good enough for the #1 job that had mutliple years left, he or Gmac would prob be in the portal by the 25th. That would have been getting recruited over, and would have changed their overall situations.

So, Aguilar checks all the boxes of how your other 2 Qb's were impacted by the situation. Their development and timelines to #1 are intact, but with Merck having a chance to win #1 a year early.

 

[bpalmer28]

Everybody keeps pointing to his 2024 season while ignoring his 2023 season where he threw 3700 yards, 33 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. Those are great numbers, last year App State lost their leading rusher and most of their oline. He may come in and be terrible but I wouldn't put too much emphasis on last year as opposed to 2023. He played hurt much of last season and forced a lot of throws in games where they were down early. I am not making excuses for him because he may fail at UT but I can understand why his numbers dropped off from 2023.

Exactly. I just mentioned this in another thread but in games where Aguilar has attempted less than 30 passes, he has 22 TDs to just 3 INTs. Nico attempted more than 30 passes just 3 times last year and we lost two of them. All he has to do is play within our system, like all of Heupel's QBs do, and he'll have a great season. A huge factor will be whether or not we can lean heavily on the run game like we did in 2024. I expect our OL to be better this year, so I'm still optimistic about the season.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Does anyone know or know of a way to find out if Joey Aguilar was sought from App State by anyone other than UCLA?

Was his transfer a "do not contact" where he'd already had a deal with UCLA or did he go on the transfer market and if so, who did he visit, etc per reports?

I'm just wondering if anyone else except UCLA, who isn't exactly a B1G power, had their eye on Joey Aguilar?

 

[Dansky]

He doesn’t have to do much to be more productive than Nico was last season.

Just cut down the interceptions and a little more accurate.

 

[landscapingvol]

Not really? 17 TDs to 2 INTs in 2019. He only played in 6 or 7 games in 2020 and had one 3 INT game to skew his numbers somewhat to 9 TDs to 5 INTs during the COVID year…but that’s still like 7 total over a 2 season period.

Does the three interception game not count? He also only attempted 312 passes in his main two years at VaTech compared to 850 for JA in his main two years at App State. Logically if Hooker had 500 more pass attempts in his career, it would look much different statistically. Everybody focuses on his interceptions but he also threw 56 touchdowns during that same time frame.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Just cut down the interceptions and a little more accurate.

Yeah, but he threw quite a few interceptions vs Sun Belt Conference secondaries.

SEC secondaries are going to be much more athletic and harder to throw against.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

I don't see this happening because of ONE entitled player. In making this move, CJH solidified the team. Had he caved, I truly believe he would have lost the team before summer workouts even began.

I agree Tennessee could not cave in this situation, however solidifying the team assumes there are no more prima donnas lurking on this team who now see they won't get any more leverage. we already had to work hard to keep two WRs from bolting. what if those guys hate Aguilar? The repercussions of this situation I don't think are over.

Beyond team chemistry, we did just lose our prize QB and will be replacing him with a one-year seat warmer at QB who is being thrown into the Heupel offense at the last possible minute. Even if he's a better than average QB is he capable of performing better that Nico who had 2 years under his belt in this system? I kind of doubt it.

Nico was more of a natural talent. Aguilar seems like he is good at throwing but being good at throwing has a lot to do with having an intimate knowledge of the receivers and experience with the play book in games.

Urban Meyer says it best, people won't care if Tennessee goes out and loses 5 or 6 games and doesn't win any big games. This is just Tennessee making the best of a huge mess just like the last time.

 

[Buzzbait]

Picked up an interception machine.

Many reasons for interceptions besides QB bad throws or reads. Tipped balls at line, passes off of or through WR hands, poor protection, WR running wrong routes,etc. Having better tools to complement his talents could elevate his overall play. May not happen, but no reason one should make an absolute statement like that.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I agree Tennessee could not cave in this situation, however solidifying the team assumes there are no more prima donnas lurking on this team who now see they won't get any more leverage. we already had to work hard to keep two WRs from bolting. what if those guys hate Aguilar? The repercussions of this situation I don't think are over.

Beyond team chemistry, we did just lose our prize QB and will be replacing him with a one-year seat warmer at QB who is being thrown into the Heupel offense at the last possible minute. Even if he's a better than average QB is he capable of performing better that Nico who had 2 years under his belt in this system? I kind of doubt it.

Nico was more of a natural talent. Aguilar seems like he is good at throwing but being good at throwing has a lot to do with having an intimate knowledge of the receivers and experience with the play book in games.

Urban Meyer says it best, people won't care if Tennessee goes out and loses 5 or 6 games and doesn't win any big games. This is just Tennessee making the best of a huge mess just like the last time.

Urban Meyer would NEVER say that about Ohio State. "People won't care if Ohio State goes out and loses 5 or 6 games......" They would. No matter the situation, losing one player and having that crater your season isn't acceptable.

Yes. Yes, Urban, people will care. Yes, UT is making the best of a bad situation but there are and there will be expectations that "no one is bigger than the Power T" and giving a full pass for the late loss of Nico seems to be saying he was THAT important.