The Tennessee Volunteers at long last have a starting quarterback named.
The school’s Twitter/X account revealed on Sunday night that Joey Aguilar has been named the starter by Josh Heupel to open the season.
That’s not too surprising of a decision. Word hadn’t really trickled out that either Jake Merklinger or George MacIntyre had stood out substantially, and with Aguilar’s extensive experience, that probably needed to be the case to win the job.
Now, Tennessee will turn to someone with two years of FBS starting experience, as well as a penchant for taking shots and making big plays. That’s something that Tennessee is hoping to find more of after two years of a disjointed passing attack and a modest number of big plays in the passing game.
The length of the leash that Heupel is giving Aguilar is something we’ll hopefully not have to find out early on. After Tennessee starts the season off against Syracuse in less than two weeks, they host ETSU on September 6, followed by the season’s biggest game on September 13 at home against Georgia. UAB follows those three games on September 20 before Tennessee begins SEC play in full the following week against Mississippi State in Starkville.
For now, all aboard the Aguilar hype train. We’ll see how far he can carry the Vols this year.
