Josh Heupel has officially made his most important decision of the preseason, naming Joey Aguilar the Vols’ starting quarterback entering his fifth season as head coach.
The Vols have gone through two and a half weeks and both scrimmages in fall camp and will begin starting to prepare for Syracuse this week. Aguilar was the favorite to win the job entering camp and separated himself in the last week, making it only a matter of time before Heupel named him as starter.
Here’s a look at three reasons why Aguilar was always the most logical choice to begin the season as Tennessee’s starting quarterback.
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Aguilar Is The Only Contender With Starting Experience
While Aguilar is new to Tennessee, he is the only quarterback on the Vols’ roster with starting experience. Aguilar started for two seasons at Appalachian State before transferring to UCLA and then Tennessee this offseason.
He was a two-year starter at Appalachian State and was much more effective in 2023 than 2024. In 2023, Aguilar completed 64% of his passes for 3,757 yards, 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. A season later, he completed just 56% of his passes for 3,003 yards, 23 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
Jake Merklinger played sparingly in two games as a freshman last season and George MacIntyre is only a true freshman making it extremely unlikely he would ever begin the season as the starter.
Aguilar’s turnover issues at Appalachian State make it uncertain whether his long term floor is the highest at Tennessee, but his floor should be the highest in the immediate future because of his starting experience.
Aguilar Has The Highest Ceiling This Season
There’s an argument that another Tennessee quarterback will have a higher floor than Aguilar by the end of the season. But there’s no doubt that Aguilar has the highest ceiling this season.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback throws a good deep ball and that was a strength for him in his last two seasons as a starter. Josh Heupel wants to get his offense back to being able to push the ball down the field and Aguilar is the best bet to get the offense clicking in that way.
Heupel showed last year that he can pivot and win games in different ways. There’s a real chance Tennessee will have to do that again this season. But my belief is that Heupel wants to start the season coaching aggressively.
Both MacIntyre and Merklinger could be better at later points in their careers. But Aguilar’s ceiling is higher than both this season.
Aguilar ‘Comfortable’ Running Tennessee’s Offense
Heupel loves him some coach speak while meeting with the media. But he made one really notable comment last week following Tennessee’s second fall scrimmage.
“I thought he handled himself extremely well,” Heupel said. “That’s today, but I think he’s got better, from day one up until today’s scrimmage. Really every single day. Comfort and control. He’s handled himself extremely well during our night walkthroughs, which is mental focus, mental sweat. And because of that, he’s extremely comfortable in what we’re doing right now.”
Perhaps the biggest obstacle for Aguilar winning the job was the minimal time he had to learn Tennessee’s offense. Heupel saying that Aguilar had begun to grasp things and become comfortable in the offense was a telling sign of how the competition was going to end.
