No shortage of transfer quarterbacks made their debuts with their new teams over the weekend including Tennessee’s Joey Aguilar who came to Knoxville in May after two seasons at Appalachian State and a few months at UCLA.
Aguilar was impressive in his Tennessee debut, completing 16-of-28 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 34 yards on six carries and fumbled once. The performance was a strong start to Aguilar’s season as the Vols coasted past Syracuse and the veteran signal caller clearly had a strong grasp on what Tennessee wants to do offensively.
On3’s Pete Nakos ranked the 10 best performances from transfers during the opening week of the college football season and he tabbed Aguilar with the fourth best performance of the bunch.
“When Joey Aguilar arrived at Tennessee this summer, fulfilling the trade with UCLA and Nico Iamaleava, questions were aplenty,” Nakos wrote. “How quickly could he learn the playbook? Would he work in Josh Heupel’s offense? He answered those questions Saturday in Atlanta with an emphatic yes.”
Who performed better than Aguilar according to Nakos? Florida State’s Tommy Castellanos, Cal’s Jaron-Keawe Sagapoluteke and Miami’s Carson Beck.
Castellanos totaled 230 yards and a touchdown in Florida State’s upset win over Alabama. Sagapoluteke complete 20-of-30 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in Cal’s win over Oregon State. Beck completed 20-of-32 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns in Miami’s win over Notre Dame.
More From RTI: Listen in on Arion Carter’s Pregame Speech Before Tennessee Football Beat Syracuse
Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava did not make the top 10 list after struggling in his UCLA debut. Iamaleava exceeded Aguilar’s 247 passing yards just three times in 13 starts last season— UTC, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
Aguilar was not perfect in his debut. He fumbled the exchange with Star Thomas at the mesh point and had a tendency to miss high, especially on throws to the sideline. But there was a lot more to like than not. He threw the ball on time in the intermediate which was key in Tennessee’s ability to convert seven of 12 third down attempts.
The super senior hit Braylon Staley right in stride for a 73-yard touchdown which helped break the game open. Aguilar also showed some creativity in his two red zone passing touchdowns— the first to Star Thomas and the second to Miles Kitselman.
“I thought he was good in his decision making, communication,” Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel said Monday. “I said that after the football game. Super calm. I thought he used his feet at the right moments. Great demeanor throughout the course of the game. A lot to really like from it.”
Aguilar and Tennessee have an easy task this weekend, hosting ETSU at Neyland Stadium before opening up SEC play a week later against Georgia.
