Quarterback Joey Aguilar sat in the Knox County courtroom on Friday afternoon as lawyers fought for and against his eligibility in front of Judge Chris Heagerty. He waited patiently as both sides gave their arguments, but the waiting continued throughout the extended holiday weekend. Judge Heagerty did not make an immediate ruling on the case, and considering that Monday was a federal holiday with Presidents Day, the wait for both sides is even longer.
But as Aguilar and the Tennessee Football program continue to wait and hold out hope for a ruling in their favor, the extended break has given media and analysts plenty of time to weigh in on the topic and discuss their thoughts on what might happen whenever the ruling is given out.
SEC Network and host of SEC Nation, Paul Finebaum, is a regular Monday guest on WJOX 94.5 in Birmingham, AL. While speaking with Conrad Van Order and Damien Mitchell on Monday’s episode of McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning, Finebaum was asked about where he thought the Aguilar ruling was going to end up.
“My gut feeling is he’s going to play and I’m basing that on very little other than the fact that the judge kept referring to Tennessee as ‘we,'” Finebaum said, prompting a laugh from the hosts. “He did not sing Rocky Top, although I think it’s copyrighted, and he probably knows the copyright laws. But I think he took the weekend to write his decision, knowing that it was going to be skewered, but I just sense that Aguilar – They’re all different, but my feeling is he is going to get the additional year.”
More From RTI: Legal Analyst Breaks Down Joey Aguilar Eligibility Hearing, Gives Thoughts on Potential He Wins
Many analysts are honing in on the Tennessee-based interests while building their prediction on what will happen when the ruling comes out. While it may not be a strong feeling by any means, Finebaum obviously referred to Judge Heagerty’s reference to ‘we’ while speaking about Tennessee as reasoning for his belief as to why it may favor UT in the end.
On3 Sports’ Chris Low took a different takeaway from the same topic, though. He discussed his thoughts on Monday’s episode of 3HL on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville, citing that he doesn’t think that any potential Tennessee ties will impact the decision at hand.
“Just based on some of the people I’ve talked to who have been a part of some of these hearings, sports eligibility type deals, I think there’s a better chance that he doesn’t (win) than he does,” Low said. “But who am I to predict how something is going to go down in court? And whatever happens, and I mean this sincerely, I don’t know Judge Heagerty personally, but in watching and listening and reading, it’s very clear that he is not trying to be – and there were some jokes about it, even the NCAA lawyer said he’s a Vols fan, the guy that was defending the NCAA. There were some jokes made.
“But it was very clear that Judge Heagerty was not going to be portrayed as this orange and white pom-pom shaking judge. He’s (not) going to sort of just rubber-stamp this thing and say, oh yeah, we’re going to rule in your favor just because it’s here. I admire him for that. Get it right. Do it right. Whatever the right thing is, do your job.”
Ultimately, there are analysts on both sides of the fence when it comes to a potential ruling. Some still believe it will happen in Aguilar’s favor, some believe it won’t, and some are simply just 50/50 on the matter. It’s a hard thing to predict because of the unconventional and new nature of the situation as a whole.
After both Aguilar’s lawyers and the NCAA’s lawyers presented their cases on Friday, Judge Chris Heagerty did not make a ruling from the bench. Therefore, Aguilar’s temporary restraining order has remained in place and will until the time of his ruling. Outkick’s Trey Wallace reported that Heagerty said that ‘you should have my opinion in very short order’ after Friday’s hearing. That doesn’t give an exact time for a decision, but it does give an idea.
In the meantime, Aguilar’s TRO means that he can continue working out with Tennessee until something further happens.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more news on Joey Aguilar’s legal battle.
