Joey Aguilar hot start: 'It's obvious they trust him more now than they ever did Nico Iamaleava'

Coming off one of the most thrilling games of the year in Knoxville, folks at Tennessee are feeling better about the team’s ability to compete at the highest level. Quarterback Joey Aguilar has a lot to do with that.

And college football analyst Josh Pate is making no bones about it. What happened Saturday was ridiculous.

Aguilar finished the game against Georgia 24-of-36 passing for 371 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for another score, keeping Tennessee in a position to win it throughout.

That led to Pate making a bold proclamation on Josh Pate’s College Football Show on Sunday night. The Nico Iamaleava era at Tennessee is truly done and dusted. Page turned.

“I don’t know that the most diehard, optimistic Tennessee fan could have expected that, through three weeks, I mean Joey Aguilar was going to be called on to need to score a lot on Georgia and did,” Pate said. “At no point in his career, I don’t care if he played 10 more years in Knoxville, was Nico Iamaleava ever going to tote the jock of the performance that Joey Aguilar turned in yesterday. First time ever for that combination of words on the show, but I feel it was necessary.”

On the flip side of Joey Aguilar, Iamaleava has started 0-3 at UCLA. His coach has been fired. It’s hard to envision that exchange going much worse for him.

Pate revealed one conversation with a college head coach that was particularly telling. He explained on the show.

“There was a coach that was rewatching some of the stuff this morning, he was texting me back and forth,” Pate said. “This is a head coach. And he said, ‘You know what’s crazy about (Josh) Heupel and about Tennessee … the quarterback situation is such that it’s obvious they trust Joey Aguilar to do more through three games than they ever did Nico at any point when he was at Tennessee.’

For Tennessee, the Volunteers have a personable, talented quarterback manning the helm. It’s a potential College Football Playoff team again.

“That’s one thing where once Heupel gets done 38 years from now and he gets done and he writes his memoirs, I hope he’s at least honest and says, ‘Yeah, that one kind of fell in our lap. Now once it did, we made the most of it and we were really good,'” Pate said. “Hey, I’ll give you credit there. But there’s no way you could have designed this.”

Whatever the case, Joey Aguilar has endeared himself to the Tennessee faithful. The Volunteers seem to have a guy that can keep them in every game if he plays like he did Saturday going forward.

That’s about best-case scenario for Tennessee. The Volunteers are back in business.

“I actually feel really good about Tennessee leaving this game,” Pate said. “It’s an expanded playoff era, so by no means is it the end of anything. More than any team, this is not a finished product. So I know if I’m Tennessee I’m going to get guys back.

“I know I’ve got a quarterback I can win with. I know I’ve got some real, real talent in that receiver room. Probably underrated by me coming into the season. I know good and well quarterback was underrated by me. I just never could have expected it to click this quick. Never could have expected that. How in the world do you have what happened to them at the quarterback position and have it be an upgrade?”