Joey Aguilar Gives Latest Thought at Potential Return to Tennessee Football

As the rules currently stand, Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar is ineligible to return to college football next season. However, there’s an outside chance he could be granted additional eligibility stemming back to his time playing in the JUCO ranks.

Aguilar is a plaintiff in Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s lawsuit that seeks to abolish the NCAA’s current JUCO eligibility rules, Front Office Sports Amanda Christovich reported earlier this month. The current NCAA bylaws count years played at the junior college level against a player’s NCAA eligibility. Pavia originally sued the NCAA last December and won a preliminary injunction, which led the NCAA to grant former JUCO athletes whose eligibility ran out during the 2024-25 academic year one more year of eligibility.

Pavia is reportedly not interested in playing another year, even if the lawsuit wins. However, Aguilar hasn’t given a firm answer either way. After the 45-24 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday to wrap up the regular season, he was asked about the prospect of coming back if eligible.

“I guess we’ll see,” Aguilar said. “I’m not sure.”

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Aguilar commented on the same scenario earlier in November, as well.

“Going to try to see where I can go at the next level,” Aguilar said of his football future earlier this month. “And if something happens, something happens.”

Against the Commodores, Aguilar completed 29-of-44 passes for 299 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception. He also ran for a loss of 15, including sacks, on eight carries.

That brings Aguilar’s total to 3,444 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on the year. He has now passed Peyton Manning’s 1996 season for fourth place in the UT record books for passing yards in a single year. Manning’s 1997 season tops the chart, though, at 3,819 yards.