Urban Meyer declares Nico Iamaleava, Joey Aguilar exchange the 'worst trade in the history of trades'

Tennessee came up agonizingly short against Georgia this past weekend. Still, Urban Meyer came away supremely impressed with Volunteers quarterback Joey Aguilar.

The program famously executed a de facto trade with UCLA involving Aguilar and Nico Iamaleava. After the Tennessee star’s performance against the Bulldogs, coupled with the Bruins 0-3 start with Iamaleava as their signal caller, Meyer believes it’s a no brainer who won the deal between the two teams.

“What a story man. Unbelievable. He quit football. He was a firefighter for a year. Think about that. He went to a junior college. Went to App State. I looked it up and it’s not getting enough publicity. Non-recruited, junior college. App State. UCLA. UCLA makes the worst trade in the history of the trades,” Meyer proclaimed, via The Triple Option.

“Tennessee lands this guy. I don’t know this guy, but he must be a monster. I was the first guy when Nico left, I said, ‘D-U-N dun. It’s over in Knoxville. How do you lose a quarterback with that talent?’ I was dead wrong. Dead wrong. That kid played his ass. I know they lost, but he played his ass off.”

It’s tough to disagree with that sentiment at the moment. Aguilar rose to the occasion in Week 3, finishing the 44-41 loss to Georgia 24-of-36 passing for 371 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also ran for a touchdown.

Wide receiver Chris Brazzell II helped the Tennessee offense look explosive with Aguilar. He had six catches for 177 yards and three touchdowns. Braylon Staley added nine catches for 97 yards and a touchdown.

Over the course of three games, Aguilar has some terrific numbers: 906 yards, nine touchdowns, two interceptions, a 66.3% completion percentage and a rushing touchdown. On the flip side, Iamaleava has started 0-3 at UCLA, and now his coach has been fired.

Meyer is far from the only one championing Tennessee as part of the exchange. Joel Klatt piled it on via the latest episode of his podcast.

“Aguilar was terrific in a loss,” Klatt said. “Tennessee has got to be so thrilled, because guess what? You won the trade. I’m sure you all know that, but you won the trade. Aguilar is a total upgrade quarterback for Tennessee, and their wide receivers on the outside were incredible

“… They’ve got a really special offense with Josh Heupel. It’s explosive. Aguilar is a good fit. You won the trade. That’s a damn good football team. A damn good football team.”

Moving forward, it remains to be seen how far Tennessee can go with Aguilar at the helm. They made the College Football Playoff with Iamaleava, but they look like they can contend for the whole dang thing with their new quarterback this season.

— On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this article.