With Nico Iamaleava off to UCLA, Tennessee football is rolling with redshirt sophomore Jake Merklinger and transfer Joey Aguilar as its top two quarterbacks entering the 2025 season.
Merklinger has totaled very few snaps in his college career while Aguilar has played his only Division I snaps in the Sun Belt. Despite the lack of big time experience, both have better odds to win the Heisman Trophy than Iamaleava.
Both Merklinger and Aguilar are +500 to win the Heisman Trophy and are tied for the 20th best odds to win college football’s most prestigious individual award according to the DraftKings Sportsbook. Iamaleava is +7500 to win the Heisman Trophy, tying him the 30th best odds to win the Heisman.
Iamaleava transferred to UCLA last week after spending two seasons inside the Tennessee program. The former five-star recruit had an up-and-down 2024 season as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, completing 64% of his passes for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions.
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Aguilar spent his last two seasons at Appalachian State before transferring to UCLA in December. After the Bruins added Iamaleava to their roster, Aguilar entered the transfer portal and transferred to Tennessee.
The 6-foot-2 signal caller completed 56% of his passes for 3,003 yards, 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. He’s also a decent runner, adding 207 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns during the 2024 season.
While his stats last season were pretty pedestrian, Aguilar’s stats were much better during the 2023 season. Aguilar completed 63.7% of his passes for 3,757 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions during his first season at Appalachian State. He added 249 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Merklinger played in two games as Tennessee’s third string quarterback while redshirting last season. The former four-star recruit completed six-of-nine passes for 48 yards. He added 22 rushing yards on seven carries.
