Why the Vols don't make a lot of sense for UCLA QB Joey Aguilar despite the Bruins' decision to add former Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially committed to the UCLA Bruins on Sunday, just a little over a week after parting ways with the UT football program. UCLA is certainly an interesting destination for Iamaleava. On one hand, it makes total sense due to the fact that Iamaleava is from the Los Angeles area. […]
Former Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially committed to the UCLA Bruins on Sunday, just a little over a week after parting ways with the UT football program.
UCLA is certainly an interesting destination for Iamaleava. On one hand, it makes total sense due to the fact that Iamaleava is from the Los Angeles area. On the other hand, the Bruins appeared set to roll with Appalachian State transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar as their starter this fall. Aguilar reportedly had a strong spring for the Bruins.
According to Outkick.com's Trey Wallace, UCLA will now have an "open competition" for the starting quarterback job ahead of the 2025 season.
Wallace also noted that some of Aguilar's teammates at UCLA are pushing for him to stay with the Bruins and compete for the starting job.
"On Saturday night, Deshaun Foster called the current QB's to inform them that Nico Iamaleava would be heading to Westwood, and that it would be an open competition for the starting role," wrote Wallace. "According to multiple sources, Aguilar and the other QB's will meet with the coaching staff on Monday to discuss the ongoing events. Due to Joey Aguilar transferring into the program during the winter portal period, he has been with the team for the past four months, building up trust with his teammates. There has been a push by his current UCLA teammates for him to stay, and battle for the job."
Tennessee is looking to add a transfer quarterback. If Aguilar enters the transfer portal, the Vols would likely evaluate him as an option.
Aguilar could be a solid addition for the Vols as he totaled over 6,700 passing yards while throwing for 56 touchdowns over the last two seasons at Appalachian State (he also has 24 interceptions over the last two seasons)
But I'm not sure Tennessee makes sense as a destination for Aguilar. The Vols probably aren't going to guarantee him the starting job. Instead, Tennessee would likely have a quarterback battle between Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
If you're Aguilar, who is from Northern California, would you prefer to stick in the offense where you've been for the past few months and battle for the starting quarterback job (where he appears to be popular with his teammates), or would you prefer to transfer to a new situation and battle for the starting job in a brand new offense?
Neither situation is necessarily ideal for Aguilar, but I tend to think he'd prefer to stick it out at UCLA and remain in the offense that he's been learning for the past few months instead of trying to pick up Josh Heupel's offense in four short months.
You never know what may happen when it comes to the transfer portal, so Aguilar shouldn't be ruled out as an option for Tennessee. I'm just not sure it's a scenario that makes a lot of sense for Aguilar.
