Tennessee football had a week to sit on its deflating loss to Oklahoma. Now, it’s preparing for a game against New Mexico State at home before a pair of SEC clashes to round out the season. On Monday, Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar met with the media to give his thoughts.
He was asked about his time at Tennessee, finishing the year strong, game day environments, leading the SEC in passing and more.
Here’s what he said.
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On the bye week
“It’s always good to have a weekend to recover and mentally reset after a game like that. A lot of mental mistakes we know we can fix and took advantage of that during the bye week to watch film, dig deep and find out who we are personally and as a team to go out there and ultimately finish the season and attack it week by week.”
On the team’s mindset
“There’s a lot of pride on this team. Saturday wasn’t what we wanted, but we still have a lot to play for. We’re blessed to have three more games on our schedule and two of those games are super exciting games, big rivalry games, super fun environments. We’re gonna attack it week by week and face the opponents as we see them.”
On the leadership conveying that message
“Leadership is very good. All three sides of the ball, offense, defense, special teams, a team that stays together and still unites as one after games like we’ve had, losses like we’ve had. Just little simple mistakes. To play for a team, be on a team that still fights, everybody still encourages each other and has each other’s back is something you don’t see a lot.”
On if the season has flown by
“Definitely. When you look back, it’s like, dang, only three games left. It’s been fun, for sure. It’s been a great experience to be out here in Tennessee and be on this team. Super thankful to the fans and my teammates for accepting me.”
On if it’s important to him to finish the season strong
“Me personally, it’s important, but I think it’s more important for the team to finish strong. To go out there and battle and fight for these next three games.”
On his favorite part of the season
“Definitely game day environments. Home and away. There’s a lot of animosity in away stadiums. To play in environments like that and come home to Neyland that’s super loud, you got 100,000 people cheering. It’s been really fun. Vol Walk, too. Vol Walk has been really cool.”
On if he thought he could lead the SEC in passing like he is
“I always got faith in myself. I’ve produced at both levels now, I would say. I didn’t come to try to put up numbers for myself. I came to compete and try to help this team win. Everything just flows with it.”
On if he’s looked around and thought more than one year would be nice
“I mean, yeah. But, the one year, I’m blessed for this one year. Grateful to be here for this year. I’m just thankful and took advantage of this opportunity.”
On his plans for next year
“Gonna try to see where I can go at the next level and if something happens, something happens.”
On being in other position groups’ film room
“Helped a lot. Especially getting the offensive line perspective of who they’re going to grab on a blitz or who they’re going to leave for a running back or who they’re going to leave for me to ultimately be hot on the play. To go in there and see how they talk through film and hear me and how I talk through it, what I’m thinking. Same with receivers, telling them what I like on a certain coverage, how I want them to run the routes or what they see on film of why they did what they did. It’s been fun. Helped me a lot, especially in pass pro and things like that to see where the o-line is sliding or IDing to or who they’re getting back to. It’s helped a lot.”
On what he knew about the wide receivers going into the year
“I wouldn’t say I knew much, just cause I came in and didn’t know a lot of names on the team. I watched games last year, but wasn’t really familiar with names. Knew they were great players and they’re here for a reason. To go out there and throw the ball and let them guys make plays, it makes it easy on my part but it’s been fun at the same time.”
On what being at Tennessee has meant to him personally
“It’s meant a lot and to see the support from day one to now has grown a lot. It’s been good and bad. I’ve had some bad plays this season, but the support that the community has when I’m on the field and even off the field. When I’m at the grocery store, somebody sees me getting gas or something like that, people pull up on me, ask for photos and things like that. It’s been awesome. Especially for the kids. I went to this elementary school the other day. They had this little thing they had to make points to to attend and once they all saw me, they all freaked out. It was cool to see that. Just to be an inspiration to the kids. They think we’re big celebrities and things like that so to see them happy and get a what’s up or a dap from us means the world and it’s awesome.”
On what he’s seen from Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre
“Great. They compete every day. I tell them, you got to be ready at all times. It happened to me at App State. I walked in to the first game as a backup, starter gets hurt, get thrown in there. They’ve done a great job this year preparing like they’re the starter. Watching film and practicing with good, I don’t know how to say it, but practicing with enthusiasm and excited to be out there. Not thinking like oh, I’m not the stater. They’re attacking it every day like they are. They ask me for questions, I ask them for questions so we get different perspectives on things. When we go out there, we see things, feel things a little differently. To go out there and communicate with those guys, they’re here for a reason, they’re great players, as well. It’s been good and we’ve grown a lot as a group, as well.”
On when he comes out in a blowout, how he acts on the bench
“I think it’s a little bit of both. We have coaches that coach them, but obviously, I’m paying attention and I’m trying to see what I see and watch what they do. When they come to the sideline, I don’t try to say too much until they ask me what you would have done on this play or what do you think and then I put in my little two cents. But I’m out there supporting. They support me when I’m out there, so I’m gonna support them when they’re out there. If they want advice and they want to hear what I got to say and they ask me then I’ll let them know.”
On the most underrated aspect of TE Ethan Davis
“I’d probably say the underrated thing is his pass pro. He’s a big guy out there running routes, catching the ball, but that guy will get his nose dirty and put somebody on his back.”
On the most unusual place he’s been stopped for a photo
“I don’t know about unusual. I went to the mall on a Sunday, probably wasn’t the best idea. I barely made it out.”
