Tennessee football came up well short against Vanderbilt, losing 45-24 at home. This came as the result of a disastrous second half on both sides of the ball.
After the game, Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar met with the media to give his thoughts. He was asked about his future, miscues and more.
Here’s what he said.
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On what stands out to him about his time at Tennessee
“Just the relationships with my teammates and with the coaches. Super grateful for them accepting me in so late. Especially my teammates and the bonds that I built with them over the past couple months, man. It just means more than football. Football is something we can all connect with and have fun, but outside of football, those guys, they’re my brothers for life. To know how strong a connection we have in such an amount of time, I can’t thank them enough and the coaches as well to for believing in me and trusting in me to lead this team.”
On what got away in the second half
“We didn’t do a good job winning the middle eight. They went into halftime with a touchdown to tie the game, came out of halftime and put up some points, and then offensively, we didn’t start fast. They kind of picked up momentum. They won the middle eight when we started slow and they took advantage of it.”
On Vanderbilt taking so much time off the clock
“You just got to go out, you only get so many opportunities in the game. When you play a team like that that holds the ball and gets a lot of the clock, you just got to take advantage of the opportunity when you go out there. We didn’t coming out of half, they had the ball for a little while, when we went out there, we kind of just three-and-out, not executing, not being detailed to what we want to try to accomplish in our playcall. It’s not – you just got to be ready. Obviously, we were on the sideline for a little while, but that’s why you just stand next to the heater or stand on the little machines to get it going and stay ready because anything can happen. Unfortunately, we weren’t. We went out there a little slow coming out of half and that’s just something we have to do better at.”
On having a bowl game after this
“Of course, sucks that last game in Neyland ended how it ended, but grateful to go out there one more time with the guys in the bowl game. Be out there at practice. Practice is really where you make the most memories. You only get a certain amount of game days. Practice, excited to attack it one more time with the guys.”
On his impact on the team this year
“I think that’s a question for everybody else to ask. I mean, I just came in here and tried to build a connection with everybody and not try to be too big. I still had to earn and go out there and prove to the teammates I could be here with them and lead them and earn their trust. Personally, I think that’s a question you have to ask the other guys.”
On offensive inconsistencies
“I would just probably say our week of preparation. Some days, we’re really good at practice. Some days, we’re a little bit slower. I think that carries on to game days. I think what we have to do is attack the week like it’s your last. Some times it could be your last and sometimes it can’t. We’re grateful to keep on going, but I think we just got to attack practice every day more seriously. Not saying that we don’t but there’s an extra level of urgency we can have attacking practice week-by-week.”
On if he wants to come back next season if he can
“I guess we’ll see. I’m not sure.”
