Paul Finebaum: Joey Aguilar is good, but Nico Iamaleava could've been great at Tennessee

The SEC Spring Meetings are underway, and Paul Finebaum is soaking up the sun. As the summer begins, the ESPN analyst is reminded about the top story of the offseason, the saga between the Tennessee Volunteers and quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

It’s still one of the juicer storylines in all of college football, as the Volunteers adjust to their new reality, where Iamaleava is with UCLA, and Joey Aguilar will be their quarterback. Finebaum believes Tennessee did what they had to do, but he’s not super enthusiastic about where the team stands entering 2025.

“Not fine,” Finebaum stated regarding Tennessee, via SportsCenter on Tuesday. “This was the biggest story of the off-season, with Nico leaving. Joey Aguilar, from App State via UCLA is not the perfect answer. He’s good, but he’s not great. Nico could’ve been great, even though he wasn’t last year. Quite frankly, I don’t like Tennessee’s chances of the Playoff at all.”

Despite all the drama, Aguilar and the Volunteers will be expected to compete, after making it to the College Football Playoff in 2024. Whether or not the quarterback can do enough to make Tennessee fans forget about Iamaleava remains to be seen.

It won’t be easy, as Iamaleava came to Knoxville as a five-star recruit in the Class of 2023, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. After sitting out a season, he flashed success in his first full year as a starter in 2024, going to the CFP. He also finished the season throwing for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. That was with just five interceptions. He also rushed for 358 yards and three more scores.

Tennessee was hoping to repeat that success and even build on it in 2025. However, with a difficult schedule ahead and newfound questions at quarterback following some NIL drama with Iamaleava, that’s going to be much more difficult to do.

This isn’t a new sentiment from Finebaum though, as he’s been beating this drum for the last couple of months: “I think you have to be worried about Tennessee,” Finebaum said earlier this offseason. “I know that I’m probably not breaking a new story here but what is the quarterback situation really going to be like? Listen, Aguilar is serviceable. They have two backups who have no experience, but I think that’s a tremendous drop-off.”

No matter what Paul Finebaum says, it’ll all come to a head on the field for Tennessee. Josh Heupel has his work cut out for him, but the Volunteers are still one of the more talented teams in the SEC and in the nation as a whole. We’ll see if they can get the job done in 2025.