On Saturday, Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar made his Neyland Stadium debut and found plenty of success. He led the Vols to a 48-point first half before watching the rest of the game from the comfort of the sideline. Ultimately, Tennessee won the game 72-17 over ETSU.
In his one half of work, Aguilar produced 288 passing yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-31 passing. After the game, he took to the podium to meet with the media.
Here’s what he said in his first home press conference.
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On field position due to Boo Carter’s punt returns
“Field position, that changes the game. And Boo being able to get us in that position to get us in the end zone in a couple plays, automatic points. When you’re that close, you got three or you got seven so that helps a lot.”
On his mom and grandmother being at the game
“I had about 12, 13 family members from California come out. Eight family members from out this way that came out. Had a deep little section in the stands. It’s awesome to have them be able to come out here, especially my grandma. To travel, especially from California, is hard for her. To be able to go out there and just play football and knowing that it makes them happy and just representing Tennessee and them brings a lot of joy and just makes me super grateful to be out there.”
On his 53-yard touchdown, his grandma’s reaction
“It’s awesome. I wish I could show you guys videos of my siblings sending me videos of her at home. She’s screaming at the TV and penalties and things like that. She’s just a bundle of joy and I’m super grateful to have her as my supporter and super glad she was out here to experience it in person.”
On who he was throwing the 53-yard touchdown to
“I was throwing it to Mike. As I was rolling, there was a lot of green grass the left side of the field. Trav was clearing out, so I told Mike to get in that area. Had to flip, turnaround, defender was in my face pretty quick so I threw the ball up and Mike came down with it, made a great play.”
On his first game at Neyland Stadium
“It’s awesome. It’s one of — the greatest stadium in the sport. Just go out there and, like you said, take it all in. When we ran out there and to see how packed it was, it was awesome.”
On going into SEC play vs. Georgia
“I’m super excited. That’s another team on our schedule that we have to go and play. Excited for the week of preparation and just going out there and trusting my guys and just playing how we play.”
On if he’s happy where the team is heading into SEC play
“For sure. There’s a lot of good, but there’s some stuff that we could clean up. We’re never perfect, but we’re striving to reach perfection. Even though we can’t get there, we can get pretty close. So, super excited.”
On the play of the offensive line
“They’re doing great. Starts and ends with them and we can’t do anything without the o-line. I give all the prasies to them. They dominated the run game, dominated the pass game. We can’t do nothing without the o-line.”
