The Tennessee Vols will have the opportunity to reach nine wins for the fourth straight season later this month (or in early January).

Tennessee is expected to head to Florida for their bowl game, with the Gator Bowl or ReliaQuest Bowl looking like the most likely options.

Bowl games, of course, aren’t as prestigious as they once were, but they’re still important in college football — partly because programs get additional practice time.

Will quarterback Joey Aguilar play for Tennessee in the bowl game?

One question that some fans have about the Vols and their bowl game approach this season is whether quarterback Joey Aguilar will play.

Two years ago, Vols starting quarterback Joe Milton opted out of the Citrus Bowl, which allowed then true freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava (who was set to start for Tennessee the following season) to make his first career start.

For now, it’s unclear if Aguilar will be back at Tennessee in 2026. He recently joined Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s complaint against the NCAA regarding junior college eligibility rules. But no one knows when a ruling may come down.

That’s led to some folks wondering if true freshman George MacIntyre or redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger could start in the bowl game, as a way to evaluate whether they should be the starter for the Vols next fall.

VolQuest’s Austin Price, however, joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Tuesday and made some great points about why it’ll likely be Aguilar that starts for the Vols in the bowl game, instead of Merklinger or MacIntyre.

“I don’t see a scenario where Joey does not play in the bowl game,” said Price. “That’s my opinion….Nico was the locked in starter with nobody really coming in behind him two years ago. So he needed a jump start. He was basically guaranteed to be the starting quarterback in 2024. But George is not guaranteed to be the starting quarterback in 2026. And so I just don’t think they’ll go that route, and technically, Merklinger is still here as well. And so Joey Aguilar will be the starter for the bowl game.

“Tennessee may have a few that decide not to play. Does Chris Brazzell play? What does Lance Heard do? Is he going pro? Is he not? Colton Hood could be another one that potentially might not play in the bowl game, because does it really behoove him (to play)? DeSean Bishop is going to be a bowl game guy. So are (Braylon) Staley and (Mike) Matthews. And so is Joey Aguilar. I mean, Tennessee can be pretty formidable against whoever they play — because I just don’t know how many opt outs they would really have.”

You never know what a player will ultimately decide, and transfer decisions will obviously be part of the equation for the Vols.

But for now, it sounds like Tennessee, mostly due to how young their roster is, should have a pretty solid group of players competing in the bowl game.

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