RTI)
Tennessee football got another strong performance from its quarterback, Joey Aguilar, in the 56-24 win over UAB on Saturday. Aguilar played the first half and one drive in the second half to provide yet another 200+ yard game through the air. His stat line finished at 218 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
Afterward, Aguilar met with the media to recap the game. He touched on his time at Tennessee so far, the option play touchdown with Peyton Lewis, the offense and more.
Here is what he said.
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On being a Christian helping him transition to Tennessee
“It helped me a lot. Especially through that time of juco and not knowing if I want to play or not. Playing juco, transferring to App State, being away from family, Jesus is the one thing I can lean on the most. When times get hard, lean on Him. When times are good, lean on Him. It kept me mellow and always had me knowing I had somebody to go talk to when I was down and really by myself.”
On fans from App State coming to watch him
“That family is awesome. I’m sure you saw him all in his Tennessee gear. He was at every App State game dressed as me. Had the helmet, jersey, pants and cleats. Just to see the impact I made at App State, it’s awesome and just the support I still have from those people is truly awesome.”
On what he’s learned about his abilities playing under Josh Heupel
“Just learning how to play fast. That was a big adjustment for me and honestly still learning. We could be faster. We’re still growing week-by-week. I’m super excited where this offense is at right now. I’m excited where I’m at right now, but we can still be better, so.”
On playing on the road next week
“Just keep the main thing the main thing. Just go out there and execute and do our job. It’s going to be a great environment. Every road game in the SEC is awesome to play in. Just embrace it when you’re running out there but keep the focus on the game and execute and play our game.”
On how he assesses the offense vs. UAB
“I think we did alright. There was a lot of mistakes we made on ourselves. But definitely could be way better. A win is a win. It’s hard to get wins, so we’re going to obviously celebrate it and embrace it, but we could definitely be a lot better than we were out there, for sure.”
On Josh Heupel’s 40th win at UT
“Me personally, since I got here, the coaching staff and the players have been super welcoming. My transition here, really felt like home as soon as possible. So like, the coaches, means a lot to me, they’re super faith-based, as well. To come to a program with players and coaches like that just welcoming me and having someone to talk to other than football, talk about faith and things like that, just made everything so easy. I’m super grateful for that.”
On the option play with Peyton Lewis that ended in a touchdown
“We rep it a lot. Defense, they went into a zero look. We kept the play on. D-End was stuck between me or PLew. Kind of attacked him a little more, he stayed on me, just pitched it out and PLew did the rest. He had free grass so we take it.”
On running the option
“We ran it a couple times at App State, but I can do it.”
On how fun this year has been for him so far
“It’s been amazing. You got to just embrace it and have fun with it. All the stress that we did to come here is gone. We have the ability to go out there and just play for Tennessee and play for the fans and go out there and do what we do… Good plays happen, bad plays happen, you just got to keep pushing through and keep smiling and keep running.”
