yea, but ZZ was pre Pavia. The article I provided was dated Sept 2025. The case for Pavia was dismissed few weeks ago because he was granted a preliminary injuction to play and the courts dismissed the case as he is already playing, The NCAA would of probably lost, just based on the court providing temporary relief, and Aguilar could easily follow Pavia’s course.
which high school?Yessir…he was a “change-up” QB in HS, and won the starting job part of the way through his freshman year of college. He then promptly got hurt (throwing shoulder).
Played WR, and then finally DB his last 3 years. Also played a lot of special teams…on kickoff, as a holder, and a long snapper. Oh yeah…returned kicks too.
Now to your question…
I appreciate more and more the wisdom of freshman football teams and no freshmen on the teams like back in the 60s. It gave freshmen the opportunity to adapt to a major change in lifestyle, and coaches get a chance to better evaluate freshmen since they aren't being shorted the practice time that necessarily goes to upperclassmen. Guys like Dewey Warren got a year at UT with more individualized coaching before ever having to compete for a starting job. That approach would probably tend to keep both Merklinger and MacIntyre in the fold next year, too; neither has seen the field much since very early in the season.
