Where ESPN ranks Joey Aguilar among Power 4 quarterbacks through Week 5

Tennessee Football’s Joey Aguilar is the 17th-best quarterback in college football through the first five weeks of the season, according to ESPN. Bill Connelly on Wednesday ranked all 68 starting quarterbacks from Power 4 conference teams.

“After a nearly flawless start,” Connelly wrote, “Aguilar’s game has sprung some leaks of late — he has thrown five interceptions in his past three games and took a pair of sacks against Mississippi State. 

“Still, he has brought the explosiveness back to the Tennessee offense, averaging 14.3 yards per completion while taking only three sacks all season. Not bad for a guy on his third school (and third offense) in 12 months.”

Up Next: No. 15 Tennessee vs. Arkansas, October 11, 4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network

ESPN’s top five quarterbacks were No. 1 Jayden Maiava (USC), No. 2 Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt), No. 3 Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), No. 4 Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) and No. 5 Dante Moore (Oregon). 

Also ahead of Aguilar were No. 6 Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati), No. 7 CJ Carr (Notre Dame), No. 8 Ty Simpson (Alabama), No. 9 Demond Williams Jr. (Washington), No. 10 Jalon Daniels (Kansas), No. 11 Julian Sayin (Ohio State), No. 12 John Mateer (Oklahoma), No. 13 Chandler Morris (Virginia), No. 14 Taylen Green (Arkansas), No. 15 Luke Altmyer (Illinois) and No. 16 Tommy Castellanos (Florida State). 

Aguilar through five games has thrown for 1,459 yards, rushed for 76 yards and has accounted for 15 total touchdowns, with a total QBR of 72.2. 

His most productive outing was the 44-41 overtime loss to Georgia at Neyland Stadium on September 13, when he completed 24 of 36 passes for 371 yards and five total touchdowns. 

Aguilar had 247 yards and three touchdowns in his debut against Syracuse on August 30 and had another three touchdowns, with 218 yards passing, against UAB.

In the 41-34 overtime win at Mississippi State on Saturday, Aguilar completed 24 of 40 passes for 335 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He ran for 21 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 1:55 left, capping a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive to force overtime. 

Former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava was ranked 58th with UCLA off to an 0-4 start. 

Aguilar transferred to UCLA in December after throwing for 6,760 yards, 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions over the last two seasons at Appalachian State.

He ended up back in the NCAA Transfer Portal and landed at Tennessee after Iamaleava transferred to UCLA.

‘The Bruins now have a 61% chance of finishing 0-12. Ouch.’

Iamaleava through his first four games has 788 passing yards, 252 rushing yards and five total touchdowns, with a total QBR of 54.6. 

UCLA fired head coach DeShaun Foster after its 0-3 start, then parted ways with first-year offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri this week.

“Iamaleava was an unfinished product at Tennessee in 2024 — took too long to throw, too many sacks, too few big plays — but he has seen everything fall apart with a bad supporting cast at UCLA,” Connelly wrote. 

“He ranks 119th in yards per completion (9.7), 83rd in INT rate (2.4%) and 91st in sack rate (6.8%), and UCLA seems to start every game down 21-0. Per SP+, the Bruins now have a 61% chance of finishing 0-12. Ouch.”