The Tennessee Vols learned last Friday that Joey Aguilar’s request for an injunction that would’ve made him eligible for the 2026 season was denied.

Aguilar has played just three seasons of NCAA football (two seasons at Appalachian State and one season at Tennessee). He spent four seasons, however, at the junior college level (City College of San Francisco and Diablo Valley). Aguilar, though, didn’t play a snap at City College of San Francisco, redshirting his first season while the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of his second season.

The California native will now turn his attention to the 2026 NFL Draft (he could appeal, but that process could drag on for months, making it a non-viable option).

With Aguilar moving on, the Vols will feature a three-man quarterback competition between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, true freshman Faizon Brandon, and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub.

MacIntyre is viewed as the heavy favorite to win that battle, though Brandon is a highly-touted five-star recruit who could make things interesting this spring and summer (Staub, not to discount his abilities, is a wildcard in this competition).

Former Alabama QB Greg McElroy flip-flops his Joey Aguilar take

Earlier this month, former Alabama quarterback-turned-ESPN analyst Greg McElroy indicated that he wanted to see Aguilar back with the Vols in 2026.

“As an analyst and as a fan of the chaos, and as someone that has a podcast multiple times a week, and a radio show and just loves the sport and loves that the news cycle continues on and on, I love it at the end of the day,” said McElroy. “I want to see the best players on the field at the end of the day. I want to see (Ole Miss QB) Trinidad Chambliss back in college football, because he’s an electric talent. I think he’s so much fun to watch.

“I want to see Joey Aguilar back in Tennessee orange, because he’s a warrior, man. He took the long road to the top — a self-made guy that started out at the lowest levels and has progressed all the way up to some of the highest levels, and has had a remarkable story.”

McElroy had a different take Monday during the third hour of McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.

The former Alabama quarterback made it clear that he thinks junior college years should count toward a player’s NCAA eligibility.

“I don’t think he’s gonna be back (following the injunction denial),” said McElroy of Aguilar. “I mean, I think the whole JuCo doesn’t count (idea) is a ridiculous — and this has nothing to do with Joey Aguilar, it’s more big picture — I think it’s a little ridiculous that all of a sudden we’re saying that because you were not able to make money in JuCo, now you’re in the P5 (power conferences) and can make money, all of a sudden that JuCo doesn’t count. No one said you had to go to JuCo. You could have gone and walked on elsewhere.

“You have to prove to me that your only option was JuCo. And we all know that no one’s going to be able to prove that. All it takes is two phone calls. ‘Hey, did you have a PWO somewhere, a preferred walk-on somewhere?’ and boom, there you go. It’s over. I just don’t think it’s grounds. I’m not a lawyer. I’m not a judge. I don’t know. I just feel like the whole JuCo doesn’t count thing is kind of a ridiculous argument.”

McElroy’s co-host, SEC Network analyst and former Auburn offensive lineman Cole Cubelic, agreed with his JuCo take.

“It’s not kind of, it is completely ridiculous,” said Cubelic. “No one made you go do that. No one made you go play JuCo. And to act like that it’s this accidental happening of some happenstance that shouldn’t count towards playing Division 1 collegiate athletics — and that that wasn’t real, but this is real — to me, it’s insanity. Complete insanity.”

McElroy’s take is odd considering he said earlier this month that he wanted to see Aguilar back at Tennessee in 2026 because he started from “the lowest levels”, but now he thinks players should have to prove that JuCo was their only option — something McElroy thinks can’t be proven.

(Notably, McElroy said during the 2025 season that he’s “not a fan” of Aguilar, so his takes on the Tennessee quarterback have varied somewhat.)

Aguilar was actually a walk-on at the City College of San Francisco (where, again, he didn’t play a snap). Then, after nearly quitting football to become a firefighter, Aguilar enrolled at Diablo Valley Community College where he had to outplay the returning starter to win the job. Only after excelling at Diablo Valley did Aguilar finally get an NCAA opportunity (at Appalachian State).

Every player’s eligibility arguments are unique. I understand that McElroy was making a blanket statement about JuCo eligibility during the conversation about Aguilar. But when it comes to Aguilar specifically, it seems clear that JuCo was his only option.

Whether or not JuCo years should count is a debate that has plenty of reasonable takes on both sides. But there shouldn’t even be a debate after Diego Pavia (and Aguilar) was allowed to play in 2025. Pavia was allowed to play because at least one of his JuCo years at New Mexico Military Institute didn’t count. If one year doesn’t count, why should two? Or three?

Maybe that’s “ridiculous”, but it’s the precedent that was set last year.

I think McElroy and Cubelic are both fantastic analysts — I’ve learned plenty from both of them during some of their high-level X’s and O’s conversations. But I don’t think their take on JuCo and NCAA eligibility is necessarily fair. I think it’s a bit more nuanced than simply suggesting that a player should’ve just walked on at an NCAA program instead of taking the JuCo route. For many young athletes, the JuCo route is the only route out of high school.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think if a player like Aguilar is looking at essentially a dead end JuCo career coming out of high school and works his way up to being an SEC starter, then it’s probably not a bad thing (for anyone) if that player gets a chance to play a fourth year of NCAA football while earning $2 million, which is what Aguilar was reportedly set to earn had he been allowed to return to Tennessee in 2026.

Update:

In fairness to McElroy, he made some comments on Always College Football in a video that was posted on YouTube on Monday afternoon where he says that he “feels badly” for Aguilar.

McElroy also acknowledged Aguilar nearly becoming a firefighter while also sticking to his blanket statement that players need to “prove” that JuCo was their only option.

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