Starting this upcoming week, Tennessee football will begin a quarterback competition between three signal callers.
Incoming transfer out of UCLA and App State Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre will all compete for the starting job. This comes following Nico Iamaleava’s departure after the spring practice window in the midst of reported NIL negotiations.
Before the real quarterback battle takes place, I fired up the College Football 26 video game and simulated a season with each of the candidates at quarterback. While the results of the simulations can vary and become somewhat unrealistic at times, it can still be a fun exercise to preview the season.
Here are the results from the simulations.
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Joey Aguilar
Season:
10-3 (5-3 SEC)
- vs. Syracuse: 41-17, W
- vs. FCS Southeast (ETSU): 51-0, W
- vs. No. 9 Georgia: 21-34, L
- vs. UAB: 42-34, W
- at Mississippi State: 35-17, W
- vs. Arkansas: 52-28, W
- at Alabama: 58-42, W
- at Kentucky: 51-21, W
- vs. Oklahoma: 45-37, W
- vs. New Mexico State: 59-17, W
- at Florida: 38-41, L
- vs. Vanderbilt: 41-44, L
- Gasparilla Bowl vs. Boston College: 50-31, W
Stats:
- 64% completion, 4,542 yards, 42 TD, 15 INT
- 165 carries, 305 yards, 7 TD, 0 fumbles
Jake Merklinger
Season:
7-6 (3-5 SEC)
- vs. Syracuse: 37-7, W
- vs. FCS Southeast (ETSU): 66-14, W
- vs. No. 11 Georgia: 23-26, L
- vs. UAB: 48-20, W
- at Mississippi State: 41-34, W
- vs. Arkansas: 49-24, W
- at No. 21 Alabama: 27-39, L
- at Kentucky: 35-10, W
- vs. No. 19 Oklahoma: 31-34, L
- vs. New Mexico State: 45-21, W
- at Florida: 24-41, L
- vs. Vanderbilt: 24-30, L
- Citrus Bowl vs. Nebraska: 24-30, L
Stats:
- 68% completion, 3,967 yards, 33 TD, 10 INT
- 91 carries, 128 yards, 2 TD, 1 fumble
George MacIntyre
Season:
5-7 (2-6 SEC)
- vs. Syracuse: 20-45, L
- vs. FCS Southeast (ETSU): 45-30, W
- vs. Georgia: 45-41, W
- vs. UAB: 28-13, W
- at Mississippi State: 35-47, L
- vs. Arkansas: 40-43, L
- at Alabama: 16-47, L
- at Kentucky: 27-55, L
- vs. No. 8 Oklahoma: 30-45, L
- vs. New Mexico State: 56-24, W
- at No. 4 Florida: 38-44, L
- vs. Vanderbilt: 37-29, W
Stats:
- 56% completion, 4,301 yards, 31 TD, 19 INT
- 123 carries, 103 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble
One Response
I’ve been a Vol fan for over 50 years, and always supported them. What i dont understand is why is it still so tough to get top recruits across the board to join the Vols. You’d think top oline, WR, TE, and so on would jump at being the top player to play. When you see these kids who are 4-5 stars go to top schools with their positions already taken , frustrates me as to why. Coach Heupel is one of the top offensive minds in the game. I’m lost on it. But otherwise the teams we have, kick some ass.