One week after passing Hendon Hooker’s 2022 season passing yards total, Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar has now passed another legend in the Vol Football record books. With a 299-yard game against Vanderbilt last Saturday in the regular-season finale, Aguilar has officially surpassed Peyton Manning’s 1996 passing mark.
Manning threw for 3,287 yards during the 1996 season. Aguilar, meanwhile, has 3,444 passing yards on the season as a whole. He needed just 143 passing yards against the Commodores to pass Manning’s spot, and reached that total in the first half.
Aguilar, Tennessee’s fifth 3,000-yard passer in program history, is now up to No. 4 in all-time single-season passing yards in Tennessee history. He reached 3,000 total yards against Florida, passed Hendon Hooker’s 2022 total in the same game, and then passed Manning’s 1996 total the next week against Florida.
Here’s what the list currently looks like:
Tennessee Football 3,000-Yard Passing Club
- Peyton Manning – 3,819 yards (1997)
- Tyler Bray – 3,612 yards (2012)
- Erik Ainge – 3,522 yards (2007)
- Joey Aguilar – 3,444 yards (2025)
- Peyton Manning – 3,287 yards (1996)
- Hendon Hooker – 3,135 yards (2022)
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With Erik Ainge’s 2007 total well within reach for Aguilar to pass, the question now is whether he will or not during the bowl game. If Aguilar were to play in all four quarters of the bowl game, it seems extremely likely that he would become the third, or probably even the second-highest single-season passer in Tennessee history. Aguilar needs 79 yards to pass Ainge for third place and 169 yards to pass Tyler Bray’s 2012 season for second place. Considering Aguilar has a streak of 36 straight games with 200 passing yards, that all seems very doable.
The question, though, is just how much Tennessee plays Aguilar in the season-finale bowl game. He’s been the leading man for the entire 2025 season, but Tennessee may elect to play multiple quarterbacks during the bowl game to get a sense of what they have for next season. It wouldn’t seem out of the question for Tennessee to get Jake Merklinger or George MacIntyre some reps against its non-conference opponent.
Aguilar said after the Vanderbilt game that he’s looking forward to one more game with his teammates to finish out the season.
“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,” Aguilar said on Saturday night. “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.”
Tennessee will find out its bowl future on Sunday, Dec. 7, following the conference championship games next weekend. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee Football coverage.
