'Let’s start calling it the Joey Aguilar situation' – Tennessee's Josh Heupel is clearly tired of talking about Nico Iamaleava
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is clearly tired of talking about former UT quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who transferred to UCLA last month. Heupel joined 104.5 The Zone's 3HL on Wednesday during a Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville and he was asked by show host Brent Dougherty about "the Nico Iamaleava situation". “Let’s start […]
Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel is clearly tired of talking about former UT quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who transferred to UCLA last month.
Heupel joined 104.5 The Zone's 3HL on Wednesday during a Big Orange Caravan stop in Nashville and he was asked by show host Brent Dougherty about "the Nico Iamaleava situation".
“Let’s start calling it the Joey Aguilar situation," said Heupel, referencing the UCLA quarterback that recently transferred to Tennessee in the wake of Iamaleava's departure from Rocky Top. "At the end of the day, that’s just the landscape (of college sports). You’re not going to keep everybody. You got opportunities to put your roster together. I feel like we got a team that’s accountable and connected — works hard and competes hard. We’re built to win. Now we gotta go earn it every single day. We got some new pieces that we gotta get onboarded here in the course of May. That’s the nature of college football. And so we’ll get ready and keep competing and keep growing.”
Heupel confirmed during a Big Orange Caravan stop in Memphis earlier this week that Tennessee will hold an open quarterback competition this summer/fall.
During his appearance on 104.5 The Zone on Wednesday, Heupel discussed Tennessee's quarterback room, which includes Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
“The two guys that were with us, George is a first-time enrollee, [he’s] physically making some of the gains that he needs to [in order to] be able to be ready to compete this coming season," said Heupel. "He’s super bright. Grew throughout the course of spring ball in his fundamentals and technique. When he got to a gameday like situation in the spring game and scrimmages, he was willing to cut it loose and go play, and play the next play, too. It’s never going to be perfect.
"And Merk’s done a great job, essentially, in [the last] 15 or 16 months of really growing in his understanding and command of what we’re doing offensively. Fundamentally, [he’s] continuing to grow to be consistent with his delivery of the ball and decision making. Where we’re at and where we need to be by next fall, those are two different things. They gotta put in the work. And that’s true of Joey when he gets here, too."
While losing Iamaleava certainly wasn't ideal for Tennessee — Iamaleava being under center was always going to be the best case scenario for the Vols in 2025 — it's obvious that Heupel, at least publicly, isn't crying over spilled milk. This is the situation that Tennessee is in. And as a result, Heupel and his staff are ready to attack 2025 with either Aguilar, Merklinger, or MacIntyre at quarterback.
