'He thinks he can win this job, he 100 percent believes that' – The Tennessee Vols' QB battle is going to be wild this summer
The Tennessee Vols, for the first time since 2021, are set to have a wide open quarterback battle this summer. Nico Iamaleava's decision to leave the program means that Tennessee will feature a quarterback battle this summer between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre. Many fans and analysts […]
The Tennessee Vols, for the first time since 2021, are set to have a wide open quarterback battle this summer.
Nico Iamaleava's decision to leave the program means that Tennessee will feature a quarterback battle this summer between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
Many fans and analysts believe that Aguilar has the inside track to win the job due to his four years of experience (two seasons at Appalachian State and two seasons at the junior college level).
Merklinger and MacIntyre, however, aren't about to just let Aguilar have the job.
And Merklinger, specifically, could be a sneaky bet to win the job.
"You look at Merklinger, there's a photo out on Twitter this week. What was he doing? He was working out with a bunch of those receivers (from Tennessee)," said VolQuest's Brent Hubbs on Friday during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone. "He was working out with Mike Matthews and Braylon Staley, and he was working out with Travis Smith, the freshman. He's not going to roll over. He had the best spring he's had in his career, he's got more confidence than he's ever had. There's a guy coming in that doesn't know the offense, that's trying to learn the offense.
"And so what are you going to do? I mean, if you're a competitor, are you just going to sit there and say, 'Well, they recruited over me'. Or are you going to sit there and go, 'You know what? I'm going to fight because I believe I can win this job'. And I can tell you right now, Jake Merklinger thinks he could win this job. He 100 percent believes that — that's not fool's gold. That is his 100 percent belief in where he's at. And he's going to go for it."
"George got better every day," continued Hubbs. "I think the question with George is, where is he at physically? Where is he going to be physically? We'll see at the end of summer. He's got to add more weight. But listen, if you've got a competitive bone in your body, you better not roll over. If you roll over, then you're in the wrong place. You're at the wrong level of football if you want something just handed to you. And all three of those guys are going to show up and work. Who takes leadership ranks? You guys (hosts Ron Slay and Ramon Foster) have been around quarterback competitions. What does a summer look like when a coach is not there? Who's organizing the throwing sessions? Who's the guy running the show and putting it together?
"When you have an established guy, you know who that guy is. When there's a quarterback competition, all of them are trying to run the show. So it'll be interesting to see how leadership emerges between those three guys this summer. Obviously, Merklinger is trying to take an early run at it when you talk about him working out with those receivers, as he tweeted out earlier this week."
This is going to be a fascinating battle to watch play out this summer. For now, there's really no way to predict how it'll turn out. I don't even think Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has any clue how it'll play out. And that's a good thing. Competition brings out the best in players. And who knows, maybe this battle continues on into the season. Maybe the guy who starts against Syracuse in the season-opener isn't starting by mid season.
We don't know what the Vols' quarterback situation will look like this fall, but we do know that this will be the most compelling offseason we've seen on Rocky Top in years.
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