Former Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar’s answer about his most nervous Neyland Stadium moment wasn’t what anyone would expect
Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Joey Aguilar, who is currently participating in OTAs with the Jacksonville Jaguars, made a surprising admission this week about his most nervous moment at Neyland Stadium.
When Joey Aguilar arrived in Knoxville to join the Tennessee Vols football program a little over a year ago, he was an unknown to most of the SEC.
Aguilar wasn’t a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school. He wasn’t wined and dined by Power Four head coaches when he entered the transfer portal after a few years at the junior college level. And he didn’t play in front of crowds with 80,000-plus fans in the stands during his two seasons at Appalachian State.
When Aguilar played in front of 101,915 fans in his first game at Neyland Stadium last September, it was almost certainly one of the most nervous moments he’s ever had on a football field.
But it wasn’t the most nervous moment he experienced at Neyland Stadium.
That moment, in fact, didn’t come during any football game he played at Neyland last fall.
Joey Aguilar says walking out on stage with Luke Combs was his most nervous moment at Neyland Stadium
Aguilar joined WNML’s SportsTalk this week and he revealed that walking out on stage with Peyton Manning, Josh Heupel, and Al Wilson at the Luke Combs concert in May was his most nervous moment at Neyland Stadium.
“That might be the best thing I’ve done, honestly,” said Aguilar. “Luke Combs is an App State guy, so I’ve known him a little bit from App State. We’ve got some mutual friends, so he’s awesome. He’s my favorite country artist.
“For him to come to Knoxville and invite me on stage with Al Wilson, Peyton Manning, and Coach Heupel, that was unbelievable. It’s a different feeling. I was more nervous getting on stage than running out of the Power T and playing for some reason. It’s a different type of nervous. So I’ll give Luke that. Going on stage, having fun and singing, I was a little nervous stepping on that stage.”
I can’t say I blame Joey on that one. As awesome as it would be to stand on stage with that group of guys and sing along with Combs, I think most of us would be sweating bullets in that situation.