"He's got to cut down on the turnovers": CFB analyst cautions Josh Heupel of major Joey Aguilar flaw

After Nico Iamaleava unexpectedly left Tennessee over NIL issues and transferred to UCLA, the Volunteers brought in Joey Aguilar, who had played two seasons at Appalachian State and briefly at UCLA.

College football analyst Cole Cubelic shared concerns about Aguilar during an appearance on “Josh Pate’s College Football Show” on Thursday. While Aguilar is experienced, Cubelic said he doesn’t have the same upside as Iamaleava.

“Nico made plenty of mistakes last year,” Cubelic said (Timestamp: 33:30). “He missed throws, he missed reads, but it was that ceiling that we all saw, the possibility that we saw, where he had the real potential to take them. Joey Aguilar doesn't have that now, that's okay. He's got to cut down on the turnovers.”

Cubelic also said Aguilar has never played in an offense like Josh Heupel’s, which relies heavily on speed.

“There are fundamental portions of what he's going to be asked to do that he's never done," Cubelic added. "I talked to Josh (Heupel) yesterday. I asked him on set, ‘Try to explain some of the details that go into tempo, where the receivers line up? Where receivers run to for the next play when they know they're not getting the football? What official to hand the football to when a play is over?' You have to learn all these things.”

However, Cubelic is optimistic about Aguilar’s potential. He said:

“But then I asked myself … who was the last quarterback for Josh Heupel that wasn't good. ... Joey has proven he's a quarterback. All he's got to do is be good in this system, and he'll be fine because the receivers are talented. Got a good group of tight ends."

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Joey Aguilar competing for QB1 at Tennessee

Tennessee, coming off a 10-3 season, hasn’t named a starting quarterback for the upcoming campaign. Josh Heupel has not committed to Joey Aguilar for the QB1 job. He is competing with redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre.

Vols' former quarterback Nico Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns as well as rushed for 358 and three scores last season. Replacing him won’t be an easy task.

“Ultimately at the end of the day, it's never about who's not in your building but about who is in your building,” Heupel said at SEC Media Days. “For us, you can lose a quarterback at a lot of different times: December transfer portal, spring transfer portal. You can lose one [in] week one, first quarter of the ballgame in your opener, and now you're on to number two through injury, right? You've got to have the next-man-up mentality.”

Joey Aguilar has the most experience of the group. In two seasons at Appalachian State, he threw for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns, and added 452 rushing yards.

Edited by Krutik Jain