Tennessee football officially has its starting quarterback in spring transfer Joey Aguilar. After Josh Heupel broke the news to the team just days ago, he met with the media on Tuesday morning to break down the decision and what went into it.
Ultimately, the decision to pick Aguilar over redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre came down to what they saw from the App State/UCLA transfer since he got to campus. As he saw the comfort level inside of the offense advance, it became clearer that he would be the best option to start the season.
“First of all, that entire room competed at a really high level. They competed the right way, too,” Heupel said. “They pushed each other in a positive way in the meeting room, out on the practice field. I think our team has great confidence in all those guys. Joey, through the course of training camp, each and every day, continued to grow and take steps and understand what we’re doing. And comfort level, played well in the scrimmages, had good command. And that ultimately led to the decision that we made.”
While Heupel noted that he’s confident in all three of Tennessee’s quarterbacks, picking a starter does ultimately come down to who you think gives you the best chance to win on any given Saturday. For Aguilar, it is the comfort level, along with the physical and mental attributes of throwing accurate passes and making the right reads, that made him the obvious choice.
This has all contributed to making him the pick that Heupel ended up liking the most.
“Got great trust in all those (quarterbacks),” Heupel said. “And the strength of one position room, quarterback included, can never just be one guy. And those guys have all grown. But I think Joey, coming in May, having to learn the offense throughout the late spring summertime, getting his feet on the grass with our guys, learning how we practice, but also growing each day just continued to trend upward in his comfort and control and command of what we’re doing. That’s decision making, accuracy with the football, our checks that he controls, you put all that together and that’s ultimately why we made the decision.”
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This all points to Aguilar fulfilling Heupel’s wish of a quarterback going out and taking the job, too. Before the fall camp slate of practices began, Heupel continued to note that whoever is named the starter needs to be someone who earned it, not someone who simply fell into the position.
Between the steps Aguilar took at practices and the on-the-field play he produced in scrimmages, it didn’t seem like there was much of a question that he would be the guy for the job. This made the timing of naming him the starter easy, as he already went out and snatched the opportunity.
It also now gives him an extra week as the named starter to get used to being the No. 1 guy in the room. He’ll have this mock game week to prepare as the starter before the real countdown to the season begins. It can be a chance for him to get on the same page as the receiving corps, as well.
“Well, I think first of all, I said it before we started our first practice, somebody has got to go take it, too,” Heupel said. “They went through that, got through two scrimmages and another practice with those guys competing. I think, just, how Joey was continuing to grow inside of it. It felt like it was the right time, for him, but for our football team, too. And certainly, having this week knowing that you’re going to be the guy, I think gives him the chance to continue to get his feet on the ground and get ready for kickoff here in a week and a half.”
The Vols will begin the season on Aug. 30 in Atlanta when they meet Syracuse in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET and will air on ABC.
