News broke earlier this month that Tennessee Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar has joined Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia’s complaint regarding the NCAA’s junior college eligibility rules.

If the complaint is successful, it could result in Aguilar being eligible to return to Tennessee for the 2026 season.

The only problem is that no one knows when a ruling will come down, or whether Aguilar or Tennessee are pushing for the quarterback to gain another season of eligibility.

After Tennessee’s win over Florida last weekend, Aguilar was asked about his inclusion in the complaint, and he was somewhat coy in his response.

“No, I still got the same answer,” said Aguilar. “I’m just going to finish out this year and see what happens.”

Voice of the Vols Mike Keith shares thoughts on whether Joey Aguilar will get one more season at Tennessee

Voice of the Vols Mike Keith joined Outkick’s Hot Mic this week to preview Tennessee’s upcoming game against Vanderbilt and he was asked about Aguilar’s plans for 2026.

“I think Aguilar’s aim after this year is going to be the NFL,” said Keith. “Because I think he has made himself an NFL prospect with how he’s played in the Southeastern Conference. But, I mean, who knows what some judge may say, and how quickly a judge may say it. I mean, Tennessee lost a baseball player (Alberto Osuna) over the same ruling that got Pavia another year and ended up getting Aguilar another year (for 2025). So I don’t have any idea what a judge might say.”

Keith’s comments are similar to what VolQuest’s Austin Price said during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will earlier this week.

“For a guy like Joey Aguilar, I think he’s taking it day-by-day,” said Price. “He downplayed anything to the media after the game with the Pavia lawsuit and trying to potentially get another year. I think that’s by design. Because I think he wants to approach everything like this is it. The only trip to the swamp, the last game against Vanderbilt — that way he has a chance to say goodbye properly.

“If they were to win the lawsuit, then I think he’d have a decision to make. He would at least entertain it. But I think he’s approaching it like this is it. And so when you approach it like this is the end, it’s a lot easier to be locked in because there is no next year. There is no ‘We’ll get them next time’, or anything like that.”

“I think most people are going to assume that would be the case,” continued Price when asked if Tennessee would welcome Aguilar back with open arms in 2026. “And that’s probably a pretty good assumption. Again, I think for Joey, he’s kind of taking it day-by-day and approaching it like this is going to be it. He’s saying things like he did the other night — like nothing’s changed.

“Last week, his stance was he’s gonna get ready for life after Tennessee at the end of the year. But I think that you say those things because you want the proper goodbye. You don’t want people thinking that there’s an opportunity, and then if it doesn’t come and you didn’t get your proper send off….I think there’s a method to the madness here. We’ll see. If they were to win that case, then I think he would have a decision to make. And I don’t think it would be a slam dunk, but obviously, I think that the stance will be a little different than [how] he’s portraying it out there.”

Aguilar played two seasons at City College of San Francisco (one of those was the covid year in 2020) and two years at Diablo Valley Community college. Those two schools compete in the in the 3C2A (California Community College Athletic Association), which isn’t part of the NCAA. Aguilar then played two seasons at Appalachian State.

It remains to be seen how the NCAA will see Aguilar’s case.

So as a result, Tennessee is in wait and see mode with this situation until further notice.

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