Tennessee football was apart of what was effectively the first ever college football trade last spring when they swapped quarterbacks with UCLA. Of course, it was not actually a trade. Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after spring practice and found that the market was not as robust as he expected.
UCLA and DeShaun Foster took advantage of the opportunity and brought the former five-star quarterback home to Southern California. That decision left Joey Aguilar in no man’s land. Aguilar transferred to UCLA from Appalachian State back in the winter for his final season of eligibility.
With both sides desperate, Aguilar landed at Tennessee and eventually beat out Jake Merklinger to be the Vols’ starting quarterback. So how did the two compare? Let’s start statistically.
Aguilar put up some big numbers, completing 258-of-356 passed for 3,444 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He wasn’t much of a threat with his legs but did rush for 104 yards and three touchdowns.
The Antioch, California native pushed the ball down the field better than any quarterback since Hendon Hooker. He was largely accurate in the intermediate and helped Tennessee’s passing game find juice that it was largely lacking the previous two seasons.
Aguilar’s downside was turnovers. He came to Tennessee with the reputation of being turnover prone and it largely proved true. Aguilar’s 10 interceptions were double the previous Heupel-era high from a Tennessee quarterback.
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Iamaleava completed 208-of-323 passes for 1,928 yards, 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 11 games at UCLA this season. His biggest strength was his ability to use his legs where he rushed for 505 yards and four touchdowns.
Many of Iamaleava’s shortcomings at Tennessee showed up again at UCLA. He was inaccurate throwing the football down the field and was too eager to take off running after his first read wasn’t open.
Aguilar had the advantage statistically and certainly in team success. It was a relatively disappointing 8-4 (4-4 SEC) season for Tennessee. The Vols did not defeat a FBS team that won even six games. But they also didn’t let the bottom fall out either. Aguilar also quarterback’d Tennessee to its first win in The Swamp in 22 years.
The bottom fell out quickly for UCLA in 2025. The Bruins started the season 0-4 including losses against UNLV and New Mexico. UCLA fired Foster by the end of September before finding a midseason resurgence with consecutive wins against Penn State, Michigan State and Maryland.
But that stretch proved to be a tease. UCLA lost its final five games and finished the season with a 3-9 (3-6 Big 10) record.
Aguilar has one final crack at things in the Music City Bowl and then is out of eligibility barring a change in eligibility rules related to former JUCO athletes. Iamaleava still has two years of eligibility remaining but it’s unclear whether he’ll spend them in Westwood, enter the portal again or declare for the NFL Draft.
