Tennessee football's season could go anywhere from six wins to ten wins depending on how the quarterback battle plays out, but Vols fans should be excited to see recent predictions for Joey Aguilar's first season on Rocky Top.
Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre are also competing for the starting quarterback job, so there's no guarantee Aguilar will win the job, but he is the preseason favorite with a lot of success at Appalachian State in previous years.
Aguilar threw for 3,003 yards and 23 touchdowns last year as App State's starting quarterback. His success was good enough to earn a Power Four starting job at UCLA before Nico jumped ship to go to UCLA, which opened the door for Aguilar to come to Rocky Top.
Circa Sports thinks the starting job is Aguilar's as it has released its Heisman Trophy odds with Aguilar representing Tennessee.
Brett McMurphy shared the odds on social media, sharing that Aguilar has 55-1 odds to win the Heisman, while Nico has 70-1 odds to win the trophy. That places Aguilar with the 23rd-best odds, while Nico has the 30th-best odds.
This take seems to be a popular one among college football circles. SEC Network and ESPN host Paul Finebaum also believe Aguilar will have a better year than Nico, saying, "I'll take the over on Joey having a better season than Nico."
A lot of that could be because of the team around the quarterbacks. Nico's Heisman odds would be a lot higher if he had stayed at Tennessee, surrounded by the Vols' better coaching staff and talent on the field.
Aguilar struggled with turnovers at App State with 14 interceptions. If Heupel can fix that before the season, Tennessee could be a College Football Playoff contender once again if Aguilar lives up to being a better quarterback than Iamaleava.