It appears as though Joey Aguilar’s bid for another season with the Tennessee Vols has at least got started off in a positive direction.
Aguilar was granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday morning by a Tennessee judge.
The TRO just the first step, with an injunction hearing expected to be set for next Friday, February 13, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The thing to take away from this is the fact the judge entered the TRO with a finding of Aguilar demonstrating a “substantial likelihood of success on the merits of his claim”. That’s certainly not a bad sign at the outset about Aguilar’s prospects at both the injunction hearing and at trial and/or at summary judgment during the case. The judge made a point in his TRO to note that “[t]he NCAA waived the JUCO rule for Aguilar and hundreds of other athletes in 2025.” To me, that seems relevant.
Aguilar spent four seasons at the JUCO level before spending 2023-24 as Appalachian State’s QB and becoming the SEC’s leading passer in 2025 for the Vols.
We’ll see how things go on February 13, but for the time being, there’s reason for optimism for one more season of Aguilar in Knoxville.
