Judge Heagarty's Ruling

[natemantooth]

I watched the hearing and came away thinking that the judge is not very bright. I could barely understand what he was saying because he has a speech impediment. He kept blabbering about, "Well, we don't how much money Joey is missing out on from this year". It was $2 - $4 million, as stated by Joey's lawyer (though any college football fan could tell you that). At one point he said, "I'll let you two take pot-shots at each other". Pretty unprofessional.

He also said, "We can't be handing out these injunctions like popcorn". Heagarty came across like he was more concerned about upsetting the NCAA status quo than Joey missing out on life-changing money that he clearly earned. Gov. Bill Lee was the one who put Heagarty in his position, so I'm pretty unsurprised by his ineptitude.

 

[natemantooth]

Dude, take this crap down. That may be a family member of the judge. It's more than likely not him.

Judge Heagarty attended UM for 1 year. He then transferred and received degrees from UT. That profile indicates a degree from UM.

Regardless, that's a vitriolic insinuation to make just because his decision hurt your feelings.

I removed content related to the weird shirtless boy being his profile picture. Heagarty didn't hurt my feelings, he put Joey out of $3 to $4 million dollars, after he had a tumor in his bicep most of the year. I don't think the judge took things seriously. At one point he said, "I'll let you two take pot-shots at each other". He seemed very sloppy and scared to upset the NCAA.

 

[Zues1]

Ridiculous

 

[natemantooth]

It's not fair, but I don't see Joey making $2 - $4 million dollars in the NFL next year. Joey may have cause for a civil case related to those loss of funds.

 

[natemantooth]

Ridiculous

Meanwhile Alabama gets their guy who played in the G League, Ole Miss gets Chambliss back. Our state needs to be pulling in the same direction.

 

[Shrimp&Grits&Vols]

Meanwhile Alabama gets their guy who played in the G League, Ole Miss gets Chambliss back. Our state needs to be pulling in the same direction.

I mean…Tennessee is exactly where it should be with Alabama and Mississippi. It’s not like we are Massachusetts

 

[natemantooth]

I mean…Tennessee is exactly where it should be with Alabama and Mississippi. It’s not like we are Massachusetts

No, we are not Massachusetts. Hopefully Joey gets drafted and catches on somewhere and hopefully G-Mac or Faizon is ready to go come fall.

 

[volfan4evr]

No, we are not Massachusetts. Hopefully Joey gets drafted and catches on somewhere and hopefully G-Mac or Faizon is ready to go come fall.

Is there no possibility of appealing?

 

[natemantooth]

Is there no possibility of appealing?

There is but it's likely to take too long. I'd say Joey is gonna declare for the draft. Here's the explanation from the judge, btw:

Judge's explanation for denying Joey Aguilar an extra Vols season is beyond infuriating

This is just too bad.

allfortennessee.com

Heagerty said other DI athletes in similar position may be impacted and cause “sweeping implications and cause significant ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the eligibility rules of the NCAA.” https://t.co/VYUFO5FHmi

— Adam Sparks (@AdamSparks) February 20, 2026

 

[JMSqb11]

This was a great ruling. Hopefully this causes the snowball effect of these dumb 25 years old or older guys trying to stick around in college. Joey would be 25 years old at the start of the season.

Anyone crying about this is just upset because it happened to be a Tennessee player.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

Outside of maybe people's political and culture war arguments, literally almost everything else that shows up on Facebook is fake and/or AI-generated.

 

[10seV4L]

There is but it's likely to take too long. I'd say Joey is gonna declare for the draft. Here's the explanation from the judge, btw:

Judge's explanation for denying Joey Aguilar an extra Vols season is beyond infuriating

This is just too bad.

allfortennessee.com

Heagerty said other DI athletes in similar position may be impacted and cause “sweeping implications and cause significant ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the eligibility rules of the NCAA.” https://t.co/VYUFO5FHmi

— Adam Sparks (@AdamSparks) February 20, 2026

To judge the judge, he seems mighty high on himself and how his ruling will set the precedent for every similar case to follow. Imo, his ruling seems to imply that he thinks it is resetting the bar, so to speak, and defending against an avalanche of future injunctions.
With this sham of a ruling, he achieved none of that; other than to make himself feel gratified and having taken the high road in the process.
As has been stated, all Judge H did was hold The U of T to a tighter, higher standard than the rest of the sport, unnecessarily.
If JUCO years don't count towards D1 participation, they don't count, period, full stop.
Joey's ruling was not fair based on the precedent and rulings set before it. The judge made a "poster-child" of our QB so as to assert himself and his judgement as the new paradigm.
An arrogant fool of a judge, by all observations, and imho

 

[Behr]

Anyone crying about this is just upset because it happened to be a Tennessee player.

Im not agreeing with you but even if youre right, so what? Sometimes people say this like its a bad thing.

And as far as "crying" about it, I see it no different than you "crying" about letting George play since before the Vandy game.

Now somebody please tell me to stfu crying about crying. Lol.

 

[rocytop2624]

This was a great ruling. Hopefully this causes the snowball effect of these dumb 25 years old or older guys trying to stick around in college. Joey would be 25 years old at the start of the season.

Anyone crying about this is just upset because it happened to be a Tennessee player.

Your take is dumb. Age is not what this case was about. There will always be older players and some of the best can be younger players. Baseball players that go straight pro come back and play football or a kid graduates early and goes to college and he could be in the NFL by the age of 20 and at the same time you could have a 20 year old just starting in college.

 

[JMSqb11]

Your take is dumb. Age is not what this case was about. There will always be older players and some of the best can be younger players. Baseball players that go straight pro come back and play football or a kid graduates early and goes to college and he could be in the NFL by the age of 20 and at the same time you could have a 20 year old just starting in college.

Joey isn't like some of these australian punters who come to the states in their mid 20's to start their 4 years of eligibility.

Joey graduated high school in 2019 and started his college career in San Francisco......

There is literally no actual unbiased person who can make the argument he deserves a "4th" year at FBS level other than "well this player was able to sue to do it"....

Good riddance to this era of players trying to play 6 or 7 years just because they couldn't get their draft grade high enough and their playing career ends when their college career ends.

If Joey didn't play at Tennessee, literally everyone would be cheering this decisions.

 

[JMSqb11]

Im not agreeing with you but even if youre right, so what? Sometimes people say this like its a bad thing.

And as far as "crying" about it, I see it no different than you "crying" about letting George play since before the Vandy game.

Now somebody please tell me to stfu crying about crying. Lol.

I'm crying that you aren't crying more about the people crying.

And for the record, I was calling for George to play/get significant reps / snaps after the Oklahoma game. Everyone is now cowering that we are about to go 7-5, but this entire situation could have somewhat been prepared for or avoided without having to even involve Joey's court case.

We could have been successful in the portal, we weren't. No one's fault because Heupel clearly loaded up the Brinks truck.

But in the scenario where we roll into 2026 with Gmac as starter, him not getting a lot of snaps against NM State and Florida second half was criminal. I think Heupel's make or break season is 2027 just because of how much money we have committed to Knowles and the defensive staff. Heupel can survive 7-5 and even 6-6 as long as Gmac shows flashes.

But the one thing he won't have the luxury of is blaming losses or QB play on having inexperience at the position. He purposely chose to ensure that happened.

 

[volfan102455]

Joey isn't like some of these australian punters who come to the states in their mid 20's to start their 4 years of eligibility.

Joey graduated high school in 2019 and started his college career in San Francisco......

There is literally no actual unbiased person who can make the argument he deserves a "4th" year at FBS level other than "well this player was able to sue to do it"....

Good riddance to this era of players trying to play 6 or 7 years just because they couldn't get their draft grade high enough and their playing career ends when their college career ends.

If Joey didn't play at Tennessee, literally everyone would be cheering this decisions.

Except that he didn't play in 2019 or 2020. JA's career really started in 2021. He never played a down at the JUCO in San Franciso - was redshirted and the second year was cancelled due to Covid.

You will more than likely be one of the first to complain that CJH did not do enough to keep JA if this season goes south because of the QB play which you have already started doing.

Just admit you want CJH to fail so you can start the fire the coach chants.

 

[HiltonHeadVol]

I watched the hearing and came away thinking that the judge is not very bright. I could barely understand what he was saying because he has a speech impediment. He kept blabbering about, "Well, we don't how much money Joey is missing out on from this year". It was $2 - $4 million, as stated by Joey's lawyer (though any college football fan could tell you that). At one point he said, "I'll let you two take pot-shots at each other". Pretty unprofessional.

He also said, "We can't be handing out these injunctions like popcorn". Heagarty came across like he was more concerned about upsetting the NCAA status quo than Joey missing out on life-changing money that he clearly earned. Gov. Bill Lee was the one who put Heagarty in his position, so I'm pretty unsurprised by his ineptitude.

My take on this judge is that he just couldn’t pass up the chance to gain approval from his lefty friends by denying Joey something that had already been granted in the midstste last season. Now he can glow in the adoration of his legal brethren that he apparently seeks so much…..without any concern for such a good young man as JA.

 

[VolForLife83]

He's been playing college ball since 2019! I love Joey, but this is NOT what college football was meant to be. Hopefully more judges rule the same.

Jmo

 

[volpass]

To judge the judge, he seems mighty high on himself and how his ruling will set the precedent for every similar case to follow. Imo, his ruling seems to imply that he thinks it is resetting the bar, so to speak, and defending against an avalanche of future injunctions.
With this sham of a ruling, he achieved none of that; other than to make himself feel gratified and having taken the high road in the process.
As has been stated, all Judge H did was hold The U of T to a tighter, higher standard than the rest of the sport, unnecessarily.
If JUCO years don't count towards D1 participation, they don't count, period, full stop.
Joey's ruling was not fair based on the precedent and rulings set before it. The judge made a "poster-child" of our QB so as to assert himself and his judgement as the new paradigm.
An arrogant fool of a judge, by all observations, and imho

How much was this corrupt judge paid???

 

[tn4elvis]

He's been playing college ball since 2019! I love Joey, but this is NOT what college football was meant to be. Hopefully more judges rule the same.

Jmo

I agree . It’s not fair to the younger kids who have been waiting their turn or the kids still in high school. 5 years is plenty of time for eligibility. You might have a sixth for a legit medical reason.

 

[TheVolsFrog]

I agree . It’s not fair to the younger kids who have been waiting their turn or the kids still in high school. 5 years is plenty of time for eligibility. You might have a sixth for a legit medical reason.

Life isn't fair.

 

[Volador]

ESPN hates us.

(diversionary tactic)

 

[JMSqb11]

Except that he didn't play in 2019 or 2020. JA's career really started in 2021. He never played a down at the JUCO in San Franciso - was redshirted and the second year was cancelled due to Covid.

You will more than likely be one of the first to complain that CJH did not do enough to keep JA if this season goes south because of the QB play which you have already started doing.

Just admit you want CJH to fail so you can start the fire the coach chants.

I had to read this multiple times to see if you actually spent time to write that. Check my posting history. I have been VERY VERY ADAMANT that Heupel deserves to be here thru the 2027 season. I was also one of the few that was calling for Heupel to avoid this exact situation (Joey leaving and having to start a QB with no experience in 2026) all last season starting the first week of November.

Heupel deserves to be here for atleast 2 more seasons to get things turned around. You will not catch me one bit calling for his ouster in the 2026 season if were hovering around a 6-6 / 7-5 floor. However, I will be laughing at all of yall complaining about shaky QB play from inexperienced players because everyone said it was outlandish for atleast one of our QB's to get significant reps / snaps in 4 meaningless games in 8 weeks after our season ended with the playoff elimination loss vs Oklahoma.

Heupel 10000% could have prevented this exact situation (going into 2026 with a starting QB with no experience)...... But the notion that I'm someone who's ready to kick the tires on Heupel and get another Tennessee coaching search is just pure delusion and moronic.