Kirk Herbstreit describes what Joey Aguilar brings to Tennessee that Nico Iamaleava couldn't

At this point, there’s no denying who got the better end of the deal at quarterback from the spring between Tennessee and UCLA. Kirk Herbstreit knows it too considering what he saw QB Joey Aguilar do this past weekend on Rocky Top.

Kirk Herbstreit, on his new podcast called ‘Nonstop’, assessed the Volunteers after calling their 44-41 OT loss to Georgia on Saturday. He said they need to move on from that disappointing defeat as, from what he saw, they’re still set to have a great season this year, especially with Aguilar as QB1.

“I took away from this, much like you? Tennessee has got to shake this. They still can have a ridiculously good year,” said Herbstreit. “And they got a quarterback that I think we’re all excited about with Joey Aguilar.”

Aguilar is, through three games, on pace for a career year with the Vols. He has completed 66.3% of his throws for 906 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. That has him top-ten in the nation in passing yards and tied for third with passing scores, which, along with the narrative behind him, has him in early contention for the Heisman Trophy. That’s with Aguilar coming off a performance against the Bulldogs where he was 24-36 (66.7%) for 371 yards, four passing touchdowns with him posting a career-high of five scores in total, and the two picks in the overtime loss in Neyland.

Still, with Tennessee having Aguilar at quarterback, their offense is, through a quarter of the season, seeing its best statistics in at least three years. The Volunteers are scoring 52.7 points per game while posting 568.7 yards overall, with 358.7 in the pass game and 210 in the run game.

That reflects too when you compare the numbers for Aguilar now to those last year of QB Nico Iamaleava. Aguilar is at that number of 66.3% completion for 302 passing yards per game at 9.5 yards per attempt and 14.4 yards per catch. Iamaleava, for all the hype around him to become their starter, had, with 19 touchdowns and five interceptions, a line of 63.8% completion for 201.2 passing yards per game at 7.8 attempt and 12.3 per catch over 13 games. Now, it’s that difference in the deep ball, when paired with the rest of the offense for Josh Heupel, that has made Aguilar such a successful addition so far.

“His accuracy downfield? Nico, as good as he was, was missing last year in their offense. It was more about Dylan Sampson and them pounding the football,” noted Herbstreit. “Now, they can still run it, but now they get back to being who Heupel wants to be throwing the football downfield.”

Aguilar has unlocked that aspect back in as part of the Volunteers’ offense. That’s why, if they can get right again coming off last weekend’s disappointing loss, Herbstreit is trending with Tennessee moving forward.

“That’s Tennessee,” Herbstreit said. “If they can regroup, realize what’s still at stake? They still can have a great year.”