Joey Aguilar just made a power move to try to earn one more year with Tennessee, and the manner should surprise no one
The Vols’ 2025 starting QB is doing everything he can to come back for one more season.
Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar joined the fight started by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to keep his college football career from coming to an end, joining the lawsuit filed by the latter against the NCAA. However, last month he pulled out of the case for reasons that weren’t entirely clear at the time.
Now we know why. Aguilar has filed suit in Knox County Chancery Court against the NCAA in order to secure additional eligibility.
Joey Aguilar is suing the NCAA in Knox County Chancery Court for additional eligibility
The first page of the complaint reads in relevant part:
“After a breakout season as the Volunteers’ quarterback in 2025, the NCAA is blocking Aguilar from playing a fourth year of Division I football — depriving Tennessee of a gifted quarterback and robbing Aguilar of millions in compensation. The NCAA generally lets athletes play four full seasons, and Aguilar has played only three; but the NCAA arbitrarily counts the years he played in junior college, at a non-NCAA school, as years he played in the NCAA. The NCAA refuses to give Aguilar one more year of eligibility, even though it gave all former JUCO players that relief last year after it lost a similar case against Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback.
“As courts across the country have recognized, this arbitrary and anticompetitive behavior against former JUCO athletes by the entity that has a monopoly on college sports is illegal. And Aguilar needs relief now, to know whether he should report to spring practice or prepare for the NFL Draft.”
Aguilar then went on to advise he’s seeking an emergency temporary restraining order in addition to a preliminary injunction that would make him eligible to return to the Vols.
It’s not hard to see where Aguilar is going with this one. There is a growing number of instances where athletes are seeking relief through the local court system for eligibility from the NCAA. Ole Miss’s sensational QB Trinidad Chambliss is suing the NCAA in a local Mississippi court for additional eligibility. Alabama basketball player Charles Bediako, as Vol fans know well, sued in state court in Tuscaloosa, sought a temporary restraining order, and was granted a TRO against the NCAA by a judge.
Of course, there’s no indication — or frankly, likelihood — that a local judge is going to give Aguilar a hometown ruling. If he gets relief, it’s because he’s entitled to it under the law.
But even so, it sure can’t hurt to take your shot in your own backyard.
Tennessee Volunteers News
The crucial moment of 2026 is becoming clearer for Tennessee CB Jermod McCoy
The most important moment of McCoy’s pre-draft process will come at the end of February.
