Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar took a long road before landing in the SEC spotlight — City College of San Francisco in 2019, Diablo (Calif.) Valley College in 2021, two years as Appalachian State’s starter and, finally, a mid-May arrival in Knoxville after Nico Iamaleava transferred to UCLA.
On Saturday, in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Georgia, Aguilar accounted for five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) and threw for 371 yards (with two interceptions). Has the 24-year-old QB done enough to pique the NFL’s interest? We asked our draft experts for their thoughts:
Dane Brugler: My initial reaction? I’m eager to go back and study more of Tennessee WR Chris Brazzell, who was Aguilar’s best friend against Georgia with three touchdown grabs. He made the quarterback right with his body control and focus on the deep ball.
However, Aguilar has surpassed expectations throughout his seven-year college career, including with his performance Saturday. The scouting report on him entering the season was “average tools, marginal decision-maker.” And though his mobility and arm don’t necessarily jump off the screen, both certainly could be labeled “good enough.”
Aguilar did a nice job distributing the football and limiting mistakes, although his miss on his first pass in overtime was costly. Still, accounting for 371 passing yards and five total touchdowns against Georgia is impressive.
