I do feel like he's going to surprise us in a good way but he's not our Savior. He's going to be a serviceable guy that shows some magic every once in a while. If he had a full spring and fall camp with the team, I would feel a lot better about the situation. He's not a bad pick up. just bad timing.
He's a transitional placeholder for Faizon Brandon or whoever wins the QB1 job. He could be good/better than most expect, or he could be worse. I don't really care as long as Tennessee puts the kid out there who gives us the best chance to succeed.
I don't stick my neck out often, but my guess is Faizon's $$$ deal is huge and he will have those expectations on his shoulders when he steps on campus. The question will be how long it takes him to develop into QB1.
Aguilar has one year left officially, but he could be available for 2 more years due to his year of Juco, like Diego Pavia at Vandy. So if he entrenches himself as the starter and performs above whatever expectations we have going into the season, then we would have a senior QB in 2026 with 3 underclassmen heading into spring camp (assuming Brandon stays with us). That's probably the best case scenario where this kid is good enough to win and we find out the heir apparent out of those 3.
That was supposed to be the plan anyway. Merklinger was never meant to be thrown into a starting role as a RS Freshman. He wasn't as developed or polished as Nico was at this point last year, and it showed during his mopup duty. What little we've seen of him hasn't made me think, "That's definitely the next QB1 at Tennessee," but that doesn't mean he can't develop into the role. He's a kid who could develop into a good starting QB in the SEC after a few years.
Mac just needs to put on some weight (but we say that about a lot of our young QBs: Bray, Dobbs, Nico... all looked like they were going to get broken in half when they were 1st or 2nd year players. Even going back as far as Peyton, he was tiny before a year in the weight room).
