Joey Aguilar leaves no doubt on how he feels about Tennessee’s offensive system under Josh Heupel
The Tennessee Vols’ offense under head coach Josh Heupel has been a polarizing topic in recent years.
If there’s one narrative that Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel would like to leave in the past this offseason, it’s that his offense limits the development of offensive players.
Heupel came to Tennessee in early 2021 armed with an up-tempo wide choice offense, similar to what Baylor ran for years under Art Briles.
Tennessee’s offense, however, has evolved over the last couple of seasons — specifically in 2025 when we saw the Vols incorporate more pro-style concepts.
But that hasn’t stopped the national narrative that Tennessee’s offense doesn’t translate to the NFL from continuing to spread.
One reason for that is because opposing coaches are keeping the narrative alive by using it to recruit against the Volunteers.
“The old offense had questions, the new offense has more NFL traits to it,” explained VolQuest’s Austin Price this week on 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will. “They rehauled and did everything different after two years ago. So, this past year, it’s why the route concepts, the route trees, the route combinations, all the things they do, had much more of an NFL twist to it.
“Before, Bru McCoy lines up at wide out and is split almost to the out of bounds line. And then stays in that same spot the whole game. Now, they move around. And so Brazzell was split out wide right, split out wide left, in the slot, in the slot left. The routes were different. And so I think the people that want to continue to recruit against Josh Heupel want to make that claim that it’s same offense, but it’s not. And they’ll be the first to tell you that. What Dont’e Thornton ran, or what Bru McCoy ran, and what Chris Brazzell ran this past year, are two totally different offenses.”
Joey Aguilar shares thoughts on Tennessee’s offense
Former Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar is at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis this week as he prepares for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Aguilar was asked by a reporter about playing in Tennessee’s offense and the reputation that surrounds it.
“Honestly, I think the offense in general, if you go back and watch film, we went a little less option game (in 2025),” said Aguilar. “A lot more pro-style offense [with] pure progression reads and things like that. So, I think the offense that we ran this year was different from the past few years. And I’m excited for this journey and these next steps. And [I’m] prepared [because of] the way they threw me in there, in this offense, and kind of switched it all around.”
Former Tennessee wide receiver Chris Brazzell, who is also at the combine this week, made similar comments on Friday.
“This last year was a completely different offense than what y’all think Tennessee’s offense is,” said Brazzell. “2024 and 2025 were almost two different offenses with Nico (Iamaleava) and Joey (Aguilar). So I was really playing in a more regular, traditional offense this last year versus any other year at Tennessee.”
Brazzell’s first season at Tennessee was in 2024 when Nico Iamaleava was the quarterback, so his comparison might carry a little more weight than Aguilar’s. Either way, it’s clear that the players who played in Tennessee’s offense this past season don’t feel the same way that opposing coaches or the national media do.
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