You've got to love the fire and passion that Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar plays with, but goodness, he's got to do a better job at sliding and avoiding contact. That's what plenty of Vols fans are thinking in the middle of the action against Alabama.
In the second quarter, Aguilar led Tennessee on a beautiful 10-play drive that was capped off with a short touchdown pass to Braylon Staley to tie things up. However, Aguilar also took a MASSIVE hit on 2nd down and he was down on the turf momentarily.
Tennessee Vols must fix 3 keys issues to try and take down Alabama
According to ESPN's Molly McGrath, Aguilar is dealing with a bit of a neck injury right now, with clear 'discomfort' being present there. So much in fact, the Tennessee training staff has been working on his neck and massaging it a bit:
Aguilar in "visible discomfort" after that Jefferson hit on last possession, according to McGrath on the broadcast.
— Gabe Burggraf (@GabeBurggraf) October 19, 2025
UT training staff looking at the back of his neck, which is "obviously bothering him."
Joey Aguilar is dealing with neck discomfort after taking a huge hit vs. Alabama
Thankfully, Aguilar is still out on the field for Tennessee and that hit that he took wasn't bad enough to make him miss any time. However, this also needs to serve as a major wake-up call for the veteran quarterback. Again, he needs to just slide and avoid unnecessary hits when he can.
Obviously, that's easier said than done, as Aguilar is a gamer and he's going to want to do whatever is possible to help this team post a win. At the same time, there's no way the Vols are going to be able to be in a spot to potentially record an upset if he's not the one throwing the ball all over the field.
This is just a minor issue for Aguilar and the good news is that it's not going to be enough to bring him down. No one can ever question this young man's toughness. He'll surely get looked at during halftime, but Tennessee sure avoided a major problem here. Still, go ahead and slide next time, Joey. Otherwise, he could put himself at serious risk of getting hurt.
UPDATE: Since this article was posted, Aguilar was checked out in the injury tent and he's trying to tough it out, per McGrath.