Tennessee football walloped ETSU last Saturday, producing enough offense to set a school record of points in the 72-17 win. This included positive play from Joey Aguilar, who tossed for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns in just one half before watching the rest from the comfort of the sideline.
With the all-22 film cut up, former Vols quarterback Jarrett Guarantano took to his YouTube channel to break it down. He gave his overall thoughts on what Tennessee’s offense was able to do, along with individual plays from Aguilar.
“I thought we looked really good,” Guaratano said. “There was things to clean up blocking-wise that I saw, whether that was from the perimeter. Obviously, in the box, it’s a little bit tougher because you’re seeing an opponent doing a lot of different things that you weren’t maybe prepared for or they were maybe doing things that weren’t as sound. You just got to stick to your rules. You gotta keep your eyes up, especially with movement, those sort of things.
“But, we were able to make plays from the running back position. Wide receivers made plays. Joey played a very good game. Offensive line is still learning. Saw different looks, this is only going to make them better. Our tight ends are still trying to block their tails off. All in all, good.”
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Guarantano was with Tennessee from 2016-20. In his UT career, he played in 41 games with 32 starts. He threw for a total of 6,174 yards and 38 touchdowns on 494-of-808 pass attempts in this time. He would finish his college career at Washington State in 2021 before spending time with the Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals in the NFL. Guarantano also spent time in the USFL and signed a new contract in January 2025, but is seemingly starting to lean into creating content.
Here is his breakdown of the ETSU game.
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Early in the video, Guarantano took a look at Aguilar’s first touchdown strike. He found Chris Brazzell in the end zone, taking advantage of spotty coverage from the ETSU secondary.
Guarantano identified it as Cover-2 with two high safeties. He said that the cornerback probably should’ve played a bit deeper toward the goalline, but Aguilar identified the misstep and delivered a strong ball.
“Great job by Joey here, throwing the ball on a line and reading that safety,” Guarantano said. “If that safety is playing inside, throw it outside. Whenever he makes that throw again, he’s going to have to throw it a little bit higher and a little bit more of a back shoulder to get away from this safety. And also this corner will probably be at the goalline in this situation so a higher throw will be more beneficial. Same type of pace, little bit more arc and that’s still a really, really good throw.”
He also took a look at one of the top highlights of the year so far for Tennessee. Late in the second quarter, Aguilar escaped the pocket and drifted to his left. He directed Mike Matthews to fill the empty space, and uncorcked a deep pass that was caught for a 53-yard touchdown.
Guarantano understood wanting to make a big play with the cushion the lead had built, but he was skeptical of whether that decision would work as soon as next week when Georgia comes to town.
“Since they’re up 38-0, listen, I understand,” Guarantano said. “Going into the season, is this a great decision? When you’re throwing this, letting this go, throwing it deep to the receiver you pointed up? I don’t know about this one right here. I do think that the competition that we’re going to face is going to be able to make a play on this. You have a lot of bodies down there.
“But, you get the standpoint, throw a hail mary up, great play by our receiver, catch, throw. Obviously, if this is a tight game, it’s a really bad decision. Since we’re winning, he sits there and he throws it, it’s a touchdown, it’s a great decision, great play. Very risky. He points him up then he just kind of shoots it without noticing the safety is still back there. Shoots it up, as a coach, that’s tough. He gets hit on this, as a quarterback’s perspective, he’s looking at the turf right now after getting hit, then you hear absolutely the best crowd in the nation going insane, screaming. You know somebody caught it, touchdown, everybody is going hype.”
Overall, Guarantano was complimentary of what Aguilar put on tape in the win over ETSU. He agreed with head coach Josh Heupel that there were still areas to clean up, but through two games, it seems Guarantano is pleased with his former school’s offensive performances.
