Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban gave complimentary words to Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show from Knoxville on Friday afternoon.
Aguilar transferred to Tennessee from App State and UCLA before the 2025 season. No one knew what he’d look like on the field for the Volunteers after winning the starting job during fall camp, but he’s looked smooth and impressive through the first eight quarters of the season.
Through the first two games, Aguilar has 535 passing yards with five touchdowns through the air. He passed for three scores in the Vols’ season opener at Syracuse before tossing two more during brief action against East Tennessee State last weekend.
“I think Josh Heupel does a great job with the offensive team,” Saban said on McAfee’s show. “And I think Joey Aguilar does a great job of executing the offense. He actually executes the offense, to me, a little better than even Nico (Iamaleava) did. Now, Nico is a better athlete; he can run faster and all that. But when it comes to accuracy and decision-making, Joey Aguilar does a really good job. And that’s important for Josh Heupel’s offense. Every running play has an RPO or an advantage throw built into it. So for the quarterback to throw those accurately is really, really important. They make explosive plays, man. I’m telling you. If they can run the ball against you, it is a real tough day playing against Tennessee.”
Aguilar will face the biggest test of his career with the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium.
“I think he’s going to see the best defense he’s seen by far,” Saban continued on to say. “They’re faster, they know how to prepare, they know how to play against this offense because they have experience doing that. Kirby (Smart) has experience doing that. Their players understand what they have to do to get ready for this offense. So, I think (Joey Aguilar) is going to have a great career here, though. I think he’s going to be a big-time story for the rest of the year.”
“I think Josh Heupel does a great job with the offense and Joey Aguilar does a great job of executing the offense..
If they can run the ball against you it’s gonna be a real tough day” ~ Coach Saban #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/68QBTKn2Yn
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 12, 2025
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Aguilar has looked cool, calm, and collected running Tennessee’s offense over the past two games. Saturday presents a different challenge entirely, though. Against the Bulldogs’ defense, one that has stifled Tennessee in all four meetings under Heupel, he’ll need to be both aggressive and smart with the football. He can’t be reckless, but he needs to be confident and live. That’s not an easy task, but Heupel and his staff will do their best to continually put him in a position to be successful through the game.
Will Aguilar’s accuracy and gunslinger mentality be enough to give Tennessee the edge on Saturday and break an eight-game losing skid to their border rival to the south? We’ll just have to wait and see what happens on the field.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game on Saturday afternoon from Neyland Stadium.
