The Tennessee Volunteers had a historic 2024 campaign, finishing with a 10-3 record and making their first College Football Playoff appearance, where they lost to the eventual national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes. Not to mention former Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson’s record-breaking season, in which he broke the Vols’ single-season rushing touchdown record with 22 scores, earning him the 2024 SEC Offensive Player of the Year.
Tennessee’s defense also had a stellar showing, finishing with the No. 6 defense in the country, which included first-round draft pick James Pearce Jr. Although the Vols broke several records and made history in 2024, Tennessee has a few concerns that could hinder its progress in 2025.
One of those concerns is uncertainty at the quarterback position.
Finding a Starting Quarterback
The Vols made national headlines upon losing their starting quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, to the UCLA Bruins in the offseason. At the time, Iamaleava was one of Tennessee’s highest-rated recruits of the Josh Heupel era. But since the former five-star recruit’s departure, the Volunteers have needed to find a quarterback to help fill the void.
To counteract this glaring issue in Tennessee’s offense, they acquired transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar from UCLA in what many considered to be the “first trade in college football.” Although some fans are excited about the Vols’ new quarterback, considerable uncertainty remains.
Joey Aguilar
Aguilar spent two seasons with the Appalachian State Mountaineers before transferring to UCLA in the offseason. During his tenure with the Mountaineers, Aguilar threw for 6,760 yards, including 56 passing touchdowns and 24 interceptions, with a 60.1 percent completion percentage.
Although Aguilar’s statistics appear impressive on paper, one of his glaring issues was his dip in production last season. In his first year with Appalachian State in 2023, he accumulated 3,757 passing yards, 33 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. To put that into perspective, Aguilar was only 62 yards and three touchdowns shy of Peyton Manning’s 1997 season statistics, which are both single-season school records for Tennessee.
Peyton Manning’s 1997 Stats:
| Season | G | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 1997 | 12 | 287 | 477 | 60.2 | 3,819 | 36 | 11 | 147.7 |
Joey Aguilar’s 2023 Stats:
| Season | G | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2023 | 14 | 293 | 460 | 63.7 | 3,757 | 33 | 10 | 151.6 |
However, Aguilar’s numbers declined after his 2023 campaign. In 2024, he threw over 700 fewer yards, 10 fewer touchdowns, and added four interceptions. On the bright side, Heupel is widely regarded as a quarterback guru, having coached several notable college quarterbacks, including Landry Jones (Oklahoma), Drew Lock (Missouri), McKenzie Milton (UCF), Dillon Gabriel (UCF), and Hendon Hooker (Tennessee), among others.
Since arriving at Tennessee in 2021, Heupel’s quarterbacks have combined for only 18 interceptions in four years, including his backup quarterbacks. So, there is hope that Heupel can address some of the issues Aguilar has shown in his college career.
Jake Merklinger & George MacIntyre
However, outside of Aguilar, the Volunteers are very inexperienced at the quarterback position. Sophomore quarterback Jake Merklinger had only six completions out of nine attempts in 2024, and he was the most experienced quarterback the Vols had before acquiring Aguilar.
Outside of Merklinger and Aguilar, Tennessee only has one other scholarship quarterback on the roster, incoming freshman George MacIntyre, who was once considered a five-star recruit before being demoted to a four-star. Although MacIntyre has the tools to be a successful quarterback for the Volunteers, it is unlikely that he sees the field often in 2025.
So, Tennessee has a lot to figure out in terms of its quarterback position, but if anyone can develop these quarterbacks, it would be Josh Heupel.
