On one hand, sure, we get why some analysts might be hesitant to hype up new Tennessee football quarterback Joey Aguilar. At the end of the day, he doesn't have Power 4 experience and he tossed 14 interceptions with App State last campaign.
However, he also threw for more than 3,000 yards and 23 touchdowns and he's getting ready to be coached and mentored by one of the best offensive geniuses out there in Josh Heupel. Yup, a big season is surely going to be on the way for the gunslinger.
Someone needs to remind the team over at SEC Unfiltered about that. Recently, it came out with its new SEC quarterback rankings. In a bit of a shocker, Aguilar was ranked the worst quarterback in the conference leading up to Week 1. If this doesn't serve as bulletin-board material, we don't know what will.
Joey Aguilar and Tennessee have plenty of doubters leading up to the 2025 season
People just love to sleep on the Vols don't they? Aguilar may not have any SEC experience, but two years as a starter is still going to be huge for him. We don't care that it was at App State- he still knows how to throw the ball all over the field and he's got big-time targets to work with at UT.
As you might have been able to guess, there are some conversations being had already about how he's going to live up to the hype in replacing Nico Iamaleava, who has left for UCLA. Don't think the pressure of taking over for a former 5-star QB is going to get to Aguilar.
With that said, Paul Finebaum of all people recently said that he expects Aguilar to put up better numbers than what Nico was able to get done with the Vols in 2024, his first year as the starter. A lot of Tennessee fans hit the panic button when Iamaleava left, but Aguilar has all the tools to be a stud for Heupel. Labeling him as the worst QB in the SEC is only going to motivate him to play at an even higher level.