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4 hours ago
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The Tennessee Volunteers football program has had a very eventful last nine months.
It started with a crushing blowout loss in the College Football Playoff, leading to numerous transfer sagas, spearheaded by the Nico Iamaleava transfer fiasco in the spring. Iamaleava’s exit led to the presumed Tennessee starting QB taking snaps this fall as a member of the UCLA Bruins.
During SEC media days last week, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel was asked about the quarterback position this fall and said this:
“We’ve found a way to win with a lot of different quarterbacks throughout my career on the offensive side of the ball, and we’re going to find a way to win with the guy that earns a starting spot as we go through training camp here in August.”
There are likely three candidates to be Tennessee’s starting quarterback for the Vols’ Week 1 contest against Syracuse in Atlanta: Appalachian State/UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
Aguilar is the presumed favorite for the starting job. Aguilar is a six-foot-three, 225-pound fifth-year senior who was initially enrolled at UCLA before Iamaleava arrived in L.A.
The upperclassman spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Appalachian State, where he threw for over 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. The Antioch, California native is a true gunslinger, having averaged 35 pass attempts and 273 yards per game with 13.7 yards-per-completion. He also had only a 55.9% completion percentage and 14 interceptions in 11 games in 2024.
Josh Heupel’s offense has only had one true gunslinger start games in the system in Dallas Cowboys quarterback Joe Milton. After transferring to Tennessee, Milton was able to raise his completion percentage from 56.7 at Michigan to 64.7 at Tennessee in 2023.
Unlike Aguilar, Milton spent two seasons learning the offense as Hendon Hooker’s backup, so it will be interesting to see how well Aguilar picks up the offense after enrolling in the summer.
Merklinger is the only returning scholarship quarterback on the roster, spending his true freshman season as the third-string quarterback behind Iamaleava and Gaston Moore, who graduated. The 6-foot-3 Merklinger appeared in two games as a freshman against Chattanooga and Kent State, going 6-for-9 passing for 48 yards.
Before enrolling at Tennessee, Merklinger was a 4-star prospect at Calvary Day School in Savannah, Georgia, where he was a 4-year starter. He had 145 total touchdowns over his high school career, with 38 of them coming during his senior season.
Merklinger fits the mold of Josh Heupel’s quick and efficient offense very well, as he completed 72.1% of his passes and threw only two interceptions during his senior campaign at Calvary Day.
True freshman George MacIntyre may be the most talented player in the room, but he may still be a year or two away from being ready to start. The 6-foot-6, 195-pounder comes to Knoxville by way of Franklin, Tennessee, located about 20 miles south of Nashville. He spent his high school years at Brentwood Academy, where he was rated the No. 100 prospect in the nation according to On3. In MacIntyre’s senior season, he completed 66% of his passes while throwing for 2,723 yards.
At Brentwood Academy, MacIntyre was also a standout basketball player, as he reported Division 1 offers from Arizona State and FIU for basketball. MacIntyre has a strong arm, but likely needs a year or two to work on his timing and accuracy in the short game.
UT’s quarterback battle (and likely the makeup of the Vols’ season) will hinge on how fast Aguilar can adapt to Heupel’s offense. If he can impress the coaching staff with his precision and accuracy in fall camp, the starting job should be his.
However, Merklinger has a much bigger shot than people realize to lead the Volunteers out of the tunnel at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Merklinger not only has experience in the system, but also continuity with the wide receivers. Two of Tennessee’s starting WRs are first-year starters at the position who have spent the last 18 months getting reps from Merklinger.
If it all breaks right, Merklinger has the potential to be a lights-out pocket passer.
PREDICTION: Jake Merklinger is named Tennessee’s starting quarterback for Week 1, winning a quarterback battle over Joey Aguilar and George MacIntyre.
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