Is Tennessee football’s new starting quarterback, Joey Aguilar, a top-50 signal caller in the country? According to this ranking of QBs from CBS’s David Cobb, the answer is yes, but barely.
Cobb placed the Appalachian State and UCLA transfer at No. 48 on his list. This makes him No. 12 in the SEC behind No. 2 Garrett Nussmeier (LSU), No. 4 Arch Manning (Texas), No. 6 LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), No. 8 DJ Lagway (Florida), No. 9 John Mateer (Oklahoma), No. 13 Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), No. 20 Ty Simpson (Alabama), No. 29 Taylen Green (Arkansas), No. 30 Marcel Reed (Texas A&M), No. 32 Austin Simmons (Ole Miss) and No. 37 Gunner Stockton (Georgia).
The SEC signal callers not listed are Missouri quarterbacks Sam Horn and Beau Pribula, Kentucky’s Zach Calzada, Auburn’s Jackson Arnold and Mississippi State’s Blake Shapen. Tennessee will go up against both Calzada and Shapen this year.
“Aguilar topped 3,000 yards passing each of the past two seasons at Appalachian State and could have another big season in Josh Heupel’s system,” Cobb wrote. “He’ll have to cut back on turnovers while adjusting to a higher level of competition.”
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Your next question is probably where former Tennessee quarterbacks are on the list. Nico Iamaleava, now at UCLA, clocks in at No. 11. This would have made him sixth in the SEC if he stuck around in Knoxville following spring camp.
“Iamaleava will be heavily scrutinized after his public falling out with Tennessee,” Cobb wrote. “The former No. 2 overall prospect from the Class of 2023 was steady though not spectacular while leading the Volunteers to a CFP appearance last season. Now he’s tasked with juicing up a UCLA team that ranked No. 118 in total offense last season.”
The Vols’ other prior transfers, Colorado’s Kaidon Salter and UCF’s Tayven Jackson, are both not listed. As far as Tennessee’s out-of-conference foes go, Syracuse’s Steve Angeli and neither UAB nor New Mexico State’s quarterbacks made the cut.
