Vols DB Colton Hood dropped an ice-cold quote about QB Joey Aguilar after Tennessee’s win against Syracuse
Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood, a Colorado transfer who joined the program ahead of the 2025 season, dropped an ice-cold quote about quarterback Joey Aguilar after UT’s win against Syracuse on Saturday. Tennessee cruised to a 45-26 win in the season-opener against Syracuse. Aguilar, who was making his first start for the Vols, passed for […]
Tennessee Vols cornerback Colton Hood, a Colorado transfer who joined the program ahead of the 2025 season, dropped an ice-cold quote about quarterback Joey Aguilar after UT’s win against Syracuse on Saturday.
Tennessee cruised to a 45-26 win in the season-opener against Syracuse. Aguilar, who was making his first start for the Vols, passed for 247 yards and three touchdowns in the win.
Aguilar was named the Vols’ starting quarterback after beating out redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre during fall camp.
Tennessee, of course, had a quarterback competition because of Nico Iamaleava’s surprise transfer to UCLA in the spring, which led to Aguilar transferring from UCLA to Tennessee.
Because Iamaleava departed for the West Coast, most national media outlets completely wrote off the Vols heading into the season.
After the win against Syracuse, Hood was quick to remind the “haters” what they said about Tennessee and Aguilar.
“They said we weren’t gonna be good,” said Hood. “Our receivers, see what the receivers did today — them boys went out there and made plays. Joey made plays — they said we weren’t gonna have a quarterback. We always just believed in ourselves. We weren’t worried about anything. We weren’t worried about anything anybody else was saying.”
Tennessee definitely has a quarterback in Aguilar. He wasn’t perfect on Saturday — there are certainly some throws he’d like to have back. But Aguilar was in command of the offense the entire day. The few miscues he had were things that can be cleaned up.
The Vols have a long way to go to become the team they want to be this season, but beating Syracuse by 19 points in Atlanta on Saturday was a heck of a way to start the 2025 season.