Always be 'crootin'. That is the name of the game in major college football, especially for one of the blue-bloods of the sport in the Tennessee Volunteers. While this past year was somewhat of a transitional one for Rocky Top, one could argue that Josh Heupel's program overachieved in the extended wake of Nico Iamaleava's decision to leave for UCLA after spring practice. That was rough...
What could be even rougher is if his successor in Joey Aguilar does not get another year of eligibility.
While a waiver is still being pursued and there’s nothing final yet, it’s currently viewed as unlikely that Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar will be granted an additional year of eligibility, sources tell @CBSSports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 11, 2026
Threw for 3,565 yards this season at Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/rXE9JVFNNc
Aguilar came over from Appalachian State after spending last spring at, interestingly enough, UCLA... He certainly had his moments in a Tennessee uniform, but none of his wins leading the Vols were all that impressive. Still, having him back in Josh Heupel's offense could have the Volunteers back in the College Football Playoff mix again. If not, well, Heupel and everyone knows what they will have to do.
That would be go all-in on trying to get Sam Leavitt to transfer over from Arizona State to Tennessee.
Joey Aguilar could very well be replaced by Sam Leavitt at Tennessee
At this point in time, Leavitt is the best player currently in the transfer portal. He initially spent one year at Michigan State before playing for Kenny Dillingham in the last two for Arizona State. In his first year with the Sun Devils, ASU won the Big 12 and nearly won the Peach Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff. Last year was not the same for Arizona State or Leavitt, so he hit the portal again...
Leavitt is being pursued by all sorts of teams in the portal. His biggest competition outside of Knoxville has to be the LSU Tigers. How do we know this? Well, incoming LSU head coach Lane Kiffin let it be known on social media that he was supposedly back in the town and state who hates him in Knoxville. Never change, Lane. Never change... This had everything to do with Demond Williams Jr.
So with Kiffin hoping Leavitt comes back to him in Baton Rouge, Heupel needs to make sure he does not go to another SEC team in the portal. Whoever lands Leavitt in the portal when it comes to these two contenders for him, either LSU or Tennessee skyrocket near the top of the SEC conference hierarchy. They would go from SEC playoff pretender, to a serious contender to make it to Atlanta.
Heupel needs to prove his doubters wrong by getting a true pro prospect to thrive in his system.