Joey Aguilar Eligibility Discussion

[S.C. OrangeMan]

He had a tumor that was limiting his throwing power towards the end of the year.

Exactly. And he was better with it than the young guys were without it. He's supposedly 100% since his surgery. That should make him better if he wins the injunction.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

An Alabama judge just over-ruled a previous Alabama judge's ruling and denied Bediako's appeal to return to play basketball. I didn't see whether 'Bama has to forfeit any games. He's done at 'Bama. That would make me believe Aguilar is done at U-T.

Bama won't have to forfeit any games. He was in good standing and legally allowed to play in those game. Also Sankey didn't come out and call names but said he was against what Bama was doing and sided with the NCAA. Wouldn't be surprised if the Bama judge did what Sankey wanted and ruled the way he did

Joey and Bediako cases are different. Bediako went Pro which is a higher playing level, the NCAA says he forfeited any remaining eligibility to return and play.
Joey's case is saying the Jr College which is a lower level years shouldn't count. The Jr College Joey went to wasn't even governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association it some California Association which probably is even lower than NJCAA ball lol

edited the above to add the Sankey comments

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

Exactly. And he was better with it than the young guys were without it. He's supposedly 100% since his surgery. That should make him better if he wins the injunction.

He's 100 percent already?

 

[GAVol]

He's 100 percent already?

I’m no doctor, but I would think so. It’s not like there would be any rehab involved. It’s likely just a matter of taking it easy for a short time while recovering from being cut open to remove whatever they had to take out.

 

[savannahfan]

The LDS Church and its millions of members will be happy to know their kids, and they like to have a bunch, are extreme situations.

????

 

[Vol-e-ball]

Yep, because I’m an old sorry smarta$$ and I can’t understand why people can’t use one of the 100 other post, unless it’s to say SEE ME! SEE ME!

Well the fact is that they simply get too long for new visitors to the thread. Let's say it's 9-11 pages deep at the point a new visitor first sees the thread. Life is too short to read all those pages before I make my "brilliant" point. So. Shrug. Make a new post. Sure. Some people gonna hate. But some people always gonna hate. Shrug.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

Well the fact is that they simply get too long for new visitors to the thread. Let's say it's 9-11 pages deep at the point a new visitor first sees the thread. Life is too short to read all those pages before I make my "brilliant" point. So. Shrug. Make a new post. Sure. Some people gonna hate. But some people always gonna hate. Shrug.

Really if it's a similar thread that's where the Mods need to lock and leave a link to the similar thread discussion.

Also on threads that are 9-10 pages long I usually scan the first page and then jump to the last two, I always take it that the point I'm going to make has more than likely been said. Sometimes I'll post my point in that thread anyway and people are free to ignore it or not

 

[VOLINVONORE]

And Josh Heupel still seems to think he may be the best option at QB

If he is the best option this year, we may have to win a lot of games with our defense. Our defense will be much improved, but we still have to score points to win.

 

[DaddyChad]

If he is the best option this year, we may have to win a lot of games with our defense. Our defense will be much improved, but we still have to score points to win.

We won a lot of games with him last year in spite of our defense. If we had even mediocre defense we likely make playoffs. Some of you are rewriting the narrative on Aguilar.

 

[particlesmatter]

As someone else said, too many turnovers, floaty passes and into traffic passes. I vote for moving on.

 

[Unconditional Surrender]

I’m no doctor, but I would think so. It’s not like there would be any rehab involved. It’s likely just a matter of taking it easy for a short time while recovering from being cut open to remove whatever they had to take out.

Ok cool. It's just that there was a narrative I read here and on twitter that he was going to miss Spring practice.

 

[Volanta]

Don’t wanna post the link and get in trouble but here is my counterpoint on why Joey should get one more season.

“The NCAA makes a couple billion dollars each year and the people who actually do the work that enables them to make that money receive none of it.”- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

“The most important investment you can make is in yourself.”-Warren Buffett

Like you, I read the recent column by John Moorehouse ranting against Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar suing for an additional year of eligibility and immediately thought, “Oh, come on, man!”

College football has changed. It’s very likely going to continue to evolve and those of us that watch the games will have the least impact on what those changes are. We are along for the ride and we have to choose to accept them and keep enjoying the most passionate sport there is, or go the way of the 1990s NASCAR fan and leave the sport behind.

John told us himself he isn’t against college athletes being paid. That’s good because that toothpaste will never go back in the tube. His issue is with a 25 year old Aguilar getting what he calls an eighth year of eligibility. Really? There is a reason John didn’t mention where those eight years were at.

Aguilar received no offers to play college football coming out of high school. I’m not just talking D-I offers, I’m talking none, not Division II, D-III, NAIA, not JUCO, nothing. Joey enrolled in City College of San Francisco and redshirted as a freshman in 2019. In 2020 he wasn’t able to play due to the pandemic, so eligibility wise, going into 2021, he hadn’t played a single snap at any level.

In 2021 Aguilar transferred to Diablo Valley Community College and began competing for the starting job with Dylan Graham. Joey ended up beating Dylan out and started the sixth game of the season, going 3-2 but having played in 10 games. After the season Graham transferred out and Joey was the starter. Unfortunately, after playing the first two games of 2022, an injury sidelined Aguilar for a month and he played in only six games.

For Aguilar’s junior season of 2023, he transferred to D-I Appalachian State University. Going into the season as a junior he’s only played in 16 junior college football games. Despite this, he becomes the starter in the second game of the season and keeps the job through 2024 playing in 25 total games for Appalachian State. A player that received no offers coming out of high school, Aguilar sets multiple single season passing records ranking among Appy State’s top 10 in several career passing categories despite only playing two seasons.

At this point in his college career he has his COVID year left and decides to transfer to UCLA. The NCAA however granted a waiver to players for the 2025-26 season that had played at the NAIA or JUCO level to have those seasons not count against their eligibility. The Nico Iamaleava drama then unfolds and after Nico leaves Tennessee for UCLA, Joey makes the decision to transfer to Tennessee where he played in 13 games in 2025.

So this is where John says Joey is seeking an eighth year, but the argument could be made that the NCAA waiver of JUCO years gave him 2025-26 and that he still retains his COVID year for this season. Joey has played in a total of 37 Division I games, or equal to a three-year starter’s amount of games. It’s disingenuous to pretend what Joey is seeking is an eighth year of being a college athlete.

John’s mentions of players like Kelley Washington, Chris Weinke, or even players that go onto religious missions out of high school only to return to college in their early 20s further makes the point that what Joey is seeking has precedent and that his age shouldn’t be factored in as a reason he shouldn’t be allowed a final season of eligibility. Indiana just won the national championship with a roster that included more than 45 players in the 22-25-year-old range.

The last component of this is that now that we are in the era of college athletes being able to negotiate deals for themselves to be paid, denying Joey the ability to make what reports have said would be around two million dollars for an additional season with Tennessee when it’s obvious that going pro will not be an option for him, seems punitive and against the spirit of NIL era paydays.

Joey graduated with a degree from Appalachian State in Communications. He hasn’t taken the path of a lot of bolt-and-run college athletes that turn pro without even finishing school. Joey doesn’t have off-the-field troubles that bring negative attention to the school. His ability to play at a level worthy of an SEC starting QB, the leadership and maturity that he can pass on to Tennessee’s other youthful quarterbacks, and the money he can help generate for the university is worthy of the payday that comes with it.

With all of the things going on in college football right now, letting a young man like Joey Aguilar benefit from the NIL era paydays is the last thing anyone should be ranting about or having issue with. There is nothing that should be seen as “bad optics” letting a good player and even more so, a good person get compensated for a complete career of college football which is what an additional season would provide Aguilar.

I agree that there has to be some end to eligibility at the college level. There should never be a player that moves on to the pro level that can come back into college and play. On the other end of the spectrum, I don’t believe that years played lower than the FCS level should affect Div-1 eligibility years for FBS players. The competition level is just so drastically different.

John finishes saying Joey should “get a job”. Like it or not, college football player is now very much a job and for Aguilar it’s a job that he will likely never be paid as well for, as this single season would pay him.

Great post!

 

[GAVol]

Ok cool. It's just that there was a narrative I read here and on twitter that he was going to miss Spring practice.

Hadn’t heard that. But again… I’m just speculating with no basis whatsoever.

 

[for10berry]

Aguilar played good last year but he had a major turnover in the loses and three of them went for six points for the other team.

 

[OleRockyTopTennessee]

I would say the same thing. First as the article points out, Joey isn’t really seeking “an 8th year”. The NCAA already granted the waiver of juco years, which would have been last season. Imo Joey still has his Covid year owed to him too.

But I would like to see across the board, anything lower than FCS not count toward FBS 4 years.

I guess i am just getting sour towards college football. Players are getting money to go to school for free, now they are getting more money for NIL, and now they are wanting to play until they’re 25-30 years old. When is it enough? I would like to see Joey come back as a Tennessee fan. As a college football fan, not so much.
I totally agree though on the smaller divisions. They should allow an additional year of playing. There has to be a cap on it somewhere.

 

[OleRockyTopTennessee]

Not necessarily. The sin could either a) get good enough to be a starter at UT or b) transfer and start somewhere else, and maybe make more NIL for doing it.

Why should someone more take red that out in the world for longer have to leave to make room for someone who isn't as good?

95% of the time, if a guy starts at QB one year, he will be the starter the next year. Very few times has that not been the case, I don’t care how good the backup is. So yes, it takes away someone else’s opportunity. Play your four or five years, pack your bags and go home. Also, this is 2026, everyone has already beat the COVID year excuse to death. That was 2020. Let it go people.

 

[Volfan76]

An Alabama judge just over-ruled a previous Alabama judge's ruling and denied Bediako's appeal to return to play basketball. I didn't see whether 'Bama has to forfeit any games. He's done at 'Bama. That would make me believe Aguilar is done at U-T.

That's not even close to the same situation. Bedakio had played professional basketball for 3 years and tried to come back. There is no example of that ever being allowed in major college sports. Aguilar is asking for an extra year of eligibility which there is plenty of precedent for including an identical situation with Pavia last year. Little to no chance that Aguilar doesnt play this season at UT. At the very least it will be tied up in the courts through the season.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I guess i am just getting sour towards college football. Players are getting money to go to school for free, now they are getting more money for NIL, and now they are wanting to play until they’re 25-30 years old. When is it enough? I would like to see Joey come back as a Tennessee fan. As a college football fan, not so much.
I totally agree though on the smaller divisions. They should allow an additional year of playing. There has to be a cap on it somewhere.

Schools started offering scholarships to get players.

Schools started paying players well before it was legal and freely offer millions for players now.

Schools, like UT and Alabama, go to bat in court with players so they can get players more eligibility.

Ask the schools when it's enough. They'll tell you the fans desperately want and expect high quality teams and the only way to compete is to keep pushing the limits.

We've met the enemy and it is us.

 

[WoodsmanVol]

Aguilar played good last year but he had a major turnover in the loses and three of them went for six points for the other team.

There are no perfect people; therefore no perfect QBs. I know this because Bart Starr said so.

 

[S.C. OrangeMan]

Schools started offering scholarships to get players.

Schools started paying players well before it was legal and freely offer millions for players now.

Schools, like UT and Alabama, go to bat in court with players so they can get players more eligibility.

Ask the schools when it's enough. They'll tell you the fans desperately want and expect high quality teams and the only way to compete is to keep pushing the limits.

We've met the enemy and it is us.

All free markets self regulate. In this case, if people stop contributing to NIL collectives, then watch private equity take over like they are the University of Utah FB funding. If you don't like it now, you're going to hate that.

 

[vol94]

So you want to discriminate against guys that do 4 years of military service then go to college? I don't.

How common is that, my gosh. Players who attend military schools usually attend college and play prior to conducting their four yr service contract.

And I am aware of Mormons and missions- mostly BYU.

Joey hasn’t been in the military. Joey didn’t do mission work. Joey graduated from high school and attended college. Whether it is jr or community college, Joey played more than five yrs. He received a Covid yr and redshirt yr, too.

I don’t know the answer and to be honest, I doubt an age limit will be placed. My point is Joey had his opportunity. He wasn’t good enough to play for a NCAA sanctioned team until App State.

I say this in that I will be the first one to cheer for him if he gets one more yr as I don’t blame him one bit.