The Tennessee Vols officially named their starting quarterback and the timing of the decision sends a clear message
On Sunday evening, the Tennessee Vols officially named senior Joey Aguilar as the program’s starting quarterback. Aguilar, who transferred from UCLA to Tennessee in April, beat out redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre for the starting job. VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs first reported the news. There are just under two weeks to go […]
On Sunday evening, the Tennessee Vols officially named senior Joey Aguilar as the program’s starting quarterback.
Aguilar, who transferred from UCLA to Tennessee in April, beat out redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre for the starting job.
VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs first reported the news.
There are just under two weeks to go before Tennessee opens the 2025 season in Atlanta against Syracuse.
Which is why I’m a bit surprised that Tennessee decided to name its starting quarterback on Sunday evening. I fully expected Vols head coach Josh Heupel to wait until right before the start of the season to announce this decision. That’s in part because of something Heupel said at SEC Media Days last month.
Heupel told reporters in Atlanta in July that it’s very important for Tennessee’s players to see one of the quarterbacks “earn” the job.
“You earn everything in this game, and you certainly do inside of our team room,” said Heupel. “That’s in who you are, your understanding of what we want to be — fundamentals, technique, scheme. It’s how you compete every single day. It’s what you’re doing off the field. That’s certainly true at the quarterback position. I think it’s important, through my career as a player, as a coach, and different spots that I’ve been, I think it’s really important that everybody on your team sees that guy earn that job.”
The decision to name Aguilar as the starter 12 days before the season opener sends the message that he’s not just the starter by default — he went out and won the job (for comparison’s sake, Heupel named Joe Milton as Tennessee’s starting quarterback in 2021 four days before the season-opener).
Now, how that translates when it comes to on-field success is anyone’s guess. We’ll see how Aguilar performs when the season gets underway.
But Vols fans should feel good knowing that Aguilar stepped up and won the job convincingly — enough for Heupel to depart from his usual secretive ways.
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