Tennessee football held its second fall scrimmage Friday morning and head coach Josh Heupel still isn’t budging on who his starting quarterback is going to be. Heupel didn’t name a starter while commenting on the play of his quarterbacks following the scrimmage.
“I thought both of them handled themselves extremely well. George did as well,” Heupel said. “For today’s scrimmage, they operated with crowd noise. Some of those mechanics as well so there was more on their plate. They handled it well. Been good decision makers and continue to grow both in understanding what we’re doing, defensive structure and fundamentally and consistently being accurate with the football today.”
Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre all continue to battle for the starting job while Aguilar and Merklinger are the top contenders in the competition.
From the outside, Aguilar was always the favorite to win the job after transferring to Tennessee by way of UCLA and Appalachian State following Nico Iamaleava’s departure to the transfer portal following spring practice. Aguilar has two years of starting experience in the FBS and his arm talent gives him the highest upside of the bunch in the 2025 season.
While Merklinger has little to no experience playing college football, he does have more experience in Josh Heupel’s offense than Aguilar after serving as the third string last season and going through spring practice as the backup.
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The duo have mostly split first team reps during open portions of practice and have been similarly accurate during routes on air. But Aguilar has reportedly been more accurate during team portions of practice and appears to be the favorite to start against Syracuse 15 days away from kickoff.
“Thought he handled himself extremely well,” Heupel said of Aguilar. “That’s today and I think he’s gotten better from day one up until today’s scrimmage. Really every single day. The comfort and control. … He’s extremely comfortable in what we’re doing right now.”
MacIntyre is the dark horse candidate. A blue-chip freshman, MacIntyre has impressed during fall camp. But the Brentwood native is still underweight and it’s hard to imagine the Vols will role with a true freshman quarterback to begin the season. MacIntyre competing for the backup job to begin the season seems like a more realistic option.
Aguilar played two seasons at Appalachian State before transferring to UCLA this past December. The 6-foot-3 quarterback threw for 6,760 passing yards and 56 passing touchdowns to 24 interceptions during his two seasons with the Mountaineers, but did see a noticeable decline from his breakout 2023 season to his returning 2024 season.
The California native was going through spring practice at UCLA when Iamaleava committed to the Bruins. Entering his final year of eligibility, Aguilar entered the transfer portal before landing at Tennessee.
