Will quarterback Joey Aguilar be allowed to play for the Tennessee Vols in 2026?

That’s the question that everyone around Tennessee — fans, coaches, players, media members, etc — is waiting to hear the answer to this week (at least we assume the answer will come this week).

A hearing was held last Friday in Knoxville to determine if Aguilar will be granted another season of eligibility. Aguilar has only played three seasons of NCAA football (two seasons at Appalachian State and one season at Tennessee), but he also played two seasons of junior college football (he was also enrolled at City College of San Francisco in 2019 and 2020, but he didn’t play).

The judge, a Tennessee graduate, didn’t issue a ruling on Friday. A ruling, however, could come at any time.

SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum shares his thoughts on whether Joey Aguilar will win his case

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum joined McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning on Monday and he shared some thoughts on whether think he thinks Aguilar will be allowed to play for Tennessee in 2026.

Finebaum said his gut feeling is that Aguilar will be granted the additional season of eligibility.

“My gut feeling is he’s going to play,” said Finebaum. “And I’m basing that on very little, other than the fact that the judge kept referring to Tennessee as ‘we.’ He did not sing Rocky Top, although I think it’s copyrighted, and he probably knows the copyright law.

“I think he took the weekend to write his decision, knowing that it was going to be skewered. But I just sense that Aguilar — they (eligibility issues) are all different — but just my feeling is that he is going to get the additional year.”

The general feeling seems to be that this decision could go either way. But there’s certainly some optimism that Aguilar will be on the field for the Volunteers this fall.

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