So far, so good for Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar. Through two games, the spring transfer has produced 535 passing yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. While it’s been against Syracuse and ETSU, the performances have looked sharp.
There’s one specific play that had a great result that ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis is skeptical would be the right decision going forward, though. Against ETSU, Aguilar rolled out of the pocket and directed Mike Matthews to open grass. He uncorked a deep ball that was brought down in traffic by Mike Matthews for a 53-yard touchdown.
Davis saw that decision and had a hard time seeing it working against Georgia on Saturday. Aguilar hasn’t had to face a defense as good as the Bulldogs’ while at Tennessee, and Davis thinks positive decision-making will go a long way.
“It’s going to be way different than what he’s seen the first couple weeks,” Davis said about starting SEC play. “Everything is going to be faster. He’s going to have to make decisions quicker. The one thing, while it’s been great fun, watching him throw up jump balls, a couple of deep ones, they haven’t thrown a lot of deep shots, but when they have, he’s thrown up a couple jump balls. The one last week, got caught for a touchdown, that is not going for a touchdown against Georgia. It’s just not.
“He’s going to have to be smart with the ball, make decisions quickly and don’t put them in bad situations because Georgia thrives on that. I think the best thing they can do is help him out by running the ball which is something that Tennessee has not been able to do nearly as successfully against Georgia, then again who does, as the Vols have against other opponents.”
More From RTI: Who Tennessee Football’s Captains are in Game Against Georgia
Overall, Davis is impressed with what Aguilar has done on and off the field to this point. The ability the transfer had to pick up a new playbook in such a short amount of time stuck with the college football analyst.
Aguilar’s connection with the fanbase and his new teammates have also left an impression. He thinks it’s one thing to capture the heart of a fanbase, but to quickly walk into a locker room and garner respect is a different beast.
“The guy has thrown for more than 7,000 yards in his career, so he’s clearly a guy with a lot of experience,” Davis said. “He’s a quick learner. It’s a difficult thing to come in and pick up any offense after spring practice as he did. Because he’s played so much, I think probably that helped him in terms of acclimating himself to the offense. I think the thing that has impressed me the most, though, is the way that people gravitated to him. Now, some of that, I’m not going to go life coach on you, but some of that is you get spurned, and then someone wants to be with you, to have a relationship with you, you are going to like that person. You’re going to go, ‘Wow, Joey Aguilar likes us. He likes us better than the other guy did.’
“So, there’s some of that, but he’s also played very well. And you also don’t get that with teammates. It has to be more authentic with teammates. You have to come in and win them over. And from all appearances, I’m certainly not at practices every day, but from watching them play in games, there seems to be a bond with Joey that he’s been able to build and forge in a short period of time. I think that’s really to his credit.”
Now, it’s time for Aguilar’s biggest test yet. Kickoff with Georgia is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and will air on ABC. Before the game, ESPN’s College GameDay will be on campus to preview the slate of games this weekend.
