News broke last week that Tennessee Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar has joined Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia’s amended complaint, which is seeking to strike down the NCAA’s junior college eligibility rules.

Aguilar has played three seasons of FBS football (including this season) and two seasons of junior college football (at Diablo Valley Community College).

If the complaint is successful, it could result in Aguilar returning to Tennessee for the 2026 season.

After Tennessee’s win over Florida, Aguilar was asked about his inclusion in the complaint, and he was somewhat coy in his response.

“No, I still got the same answer,” said Aguilar. “I’m just going to finish out this year and see what happens.”

Earlier this month, Aguilar was asked the same question and offered a similar answer.

“Gonna try to see where I can go at the next level, and if something happens, something happens,” said Aguilar after Tennessee’s second bye week.

Vols insider gives the latest on Joey Aguilar and whether he could return to Rocky Top in 2026

VolQuest’s Austin Price joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Monday, and he was asked about Aguilar and whether he could return to Tennessee for the 2026 season.

“For a guy like Joey Aguilar, I think he’s taking it day-by-day,” said Price. “He downplayed anything to the media after the game with the Pavia lawsuit and trying to potentially get another year. I think that’s by design. Because I think he wants to approach everything like this is it. The only trip to the swamp, the last game against Vanderbilt — that way he has a chance to say goodbye properly.

“If they were to win the lawsuit, then I think he’d have a decision to make. He would at least entertain it. But I think he’s approaching it like this is it. And so when you approach it like this is the end, it’s a lot easier to be locked in because there is no next year. There is no ‘We’ll get them next time’, or anything like that.”

“I think most people are going to assume that would be the case,” continued Price when asked if Tennessee would welcome Aguilar back with open arms in 2026. “And that’s probably a pretty good assumption. Again, I think for Joey, he’s kind of taking it day-by-day and approaching it like this is going to be it. He’s saying things like he did the other night — like nothing’s changed.

“Last week, his stance was he’s gonna get ready for life after Tennessee at the end of the year. But I think that you say those things because you want the proper goodbye. You don’t want people thinking that there’s an opportunity, and then if it doesn’t come and you didn’t get your proper send off….I think there’s a method to the madness here. We’ll see. If they were to win that case, then I think he would have a decision to make. And I don’t think it would be a slam dunk, but obviously, I think that the stance will be a little different than [how] he’s portraying it out there.”

It certainly sounds like it’s possible that Aguilar could return to Tennessee next fall, which would be a huge win for the Vols. Aguilar would be just the second quarterback at UT to start two seasons under Josh Heupel, following Hendon Hooker in 2021 and 2022.

But this is out of Tennessee’s hands. For now, Aguilar and the Vols are in wait-and-see mode. If a ruling is issued allowing Aguilar to return, we’ll see what decision he and Tennessee make.

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