Nico Iamaleava's replacement Joey Aguilar fails to impress one CFB analyst: "I don't think he's 100% going to be a starter"

The Tennessee Volunteers will have a new quarterback, Joey Aguilar, in the 2025 season. However, unlike many other quarterback changes, this is not due to the player declaring for the NFL Draft or his eligibility running out.

2024 quarterback Nico Iamaleava led the program to a College Football Playoff berth last season and was likely to repeat it this year. However, he left the program amid controversy and has been replaced by former Appalachian State quarterback Aguilar.

On Friday's edition of 'That SEC Podcast,' college football analyst Mike Bratton spoke about whether Aguilar will be the starting quarterback this season.

"I don't think that he is 100% going to be the starter. I assume he is, Bratton said (timestamp: 15:45). "But if you're putting him in in a much better position, better coaching staff, better surrounding talent, I think there is reason for optimism that he can come in here and win you a bunch of games this year."

Joey Aguilar spent the last two seasons as the starting quarterback for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. After a strong 2023 season, throwing for over 3,700 yards and 33 touchdowns, his form dipped in 2024, as he made only 3,003 yards, with 24 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. His passing accuracy also fell to under 60%. These performances led to a regression in the fortunes of the Appalachian State team as a whole.

In 2023, they had a nine-win season and made the Sun Belt Conference Championship game. In 2024, amid Aguliar's struggles, this fell to five wins and led to coach Shawn Clark being fired.

After all of this, Joey Aguilar is walking into a Tennessee program that is expected to succeed. Before Iamaleava left, fans were expecting another strong season and potentially a national championship from the team.

While they may not expect the same from Aguilar or any of the potential starting quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel has at his disposal, they will hope that Aguilar will find his groove and show that he can play at the highest level

Apart from Joey Aguilar, who else do Tennessee have at Quarterback?

If Tennessee decide not to use Joey Aguilar as the starting quarterback, they have two other options at the position.

The first is Jake Merklinger. He was a third-string quarterback last season and saw some snaps, going six from nine and throwing for 48 yards. However, he lacks the experience of Aguilar and is more likely to be the backup this season.

Their second choice is George MacIntyre. He is a four-star prospect, but this will be his freshman season, so he has no college football experience. He is likely to be the third-string quarterback this year.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Parag Jain