Lucas Panzica talks about the latest information surrounding the arrival of Vols transfer QB Joey Aguilar, who has yet to make it to Knoxville.
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00:00The college football season will be upon us in a matter of months and Tennessee has to get a new quarterback integrated.
00:06We have some new information on the timeline as to just when Joey Aguilar can officially join the Vols.
00:16Hey, Lucas Panzeca here from 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.
00:20So we obviously know by now that there will be a new quarterback injected into that room at the University of Tennessee
00:26as Joey Aguilar comes over from UCLA after the messy split between Nico Iamaliava and the Vols.
00:34Well, head coach Josh Heupel has been speaking at multiple stops over the course of the last couple of weeks with the Big Orange Caravan
00:40and he has shined a little bit of a light as to when Joey Aguilar can arrive on campus officially.
00:46The former App State and UCLA quarterback cannot officially get to Knoxville until mid to late May
00:54due to some complications from the academic calendar from not one but two schools that Aguilar has now been a part of
01:00over the course of just the last few months.
01:03So, as to UCLA's academic calendar, it is a school that operates on quarters.
01:09Right now, the current quarter does not end until June 13th.
01:12Aguilar does not have to wait until June 13th.
01:15What he can do is get a waiver from UCLA to drop those classes and get out of that quarter early
01:21and instead continue taking the online classes to wrap up his degree from Appalachian State.
01:27That can finish later on this week with finals and essentially graduation from Appalachian State from Joey Aguilar.
01:35It is not until after that that he can officially arrive on campus and as we know, there is a lot to do from there.
01:42Joey Aguilar has to find a place to live.
01:44He has to tour the facility, get to know his teammates, get into the strength and conditioning program.
01:50He is, according to Josh Heupel, able to spend time on Zoom with Heupel with offensive coordinator Joey Halsley
01:57for the install, trying to get to know the offense and the playbook.
02:01But Tennessee assistant coaches are on the road recruiting right now, including offensive coordinator Joey Halsley,
02:07who does not have all day to sit down with Joey Aguilar on a day-to-day basis.
02:12All this to say, the next month or so, the next really two to three months, are going to be an absolute whirlwind
02:19for the former App State, UCLA, and now Tennessee quarterback, Joey Aguilar.
02:24As he comes in, maybe as the favorite to win the job, just given his experience,
02:29but there's no question, the leg up that George McIntyre and Jake Merklinger have on Aguilar
02:34is their time spent in the system.
02:36And McIntyre has a spring practice under his belt as an early enrollee.
02:42Jake Merklinger, obviously, has had two spring practices and an entire season with this offense.
02:47As we've talked about before, it is not unprecedented for a quarterback to join Tennessee
02:52after spring practice in that spring portal window and win the starting job.
02:57It happened with Joe Milton before Josh Heupel's first season as the head coach.
03:02It can absolutely be done, but it will be up to Joey Aguilar to be able to handle everything
03:07that comes at him over the course of the next two months.
03:11If Tennessee had it their way, Aguilar would be on campus right now, getting his feet under him.
03:17But some things are just out of their control at the moment.
03:20He has to wrap up everything from a logistical standpoint academically with both UCLA and Appalachian
03:26State before he can even officially move to Knoxville, enroll at UT, and become a part of the program.
03:33But we do know that there's an uphill climb, but Joey Aguilar has the experience under his belt
03:39if he can get this offense within his grasp to win the starting job, especially considering
03:45the amount of NIL money that Tennessee is paying the former App State and UCLA quarterback.
03:50So there's no doubt it's going to be a busy, busy summer for Joey Aguilar,
03:54but it looks like we're a matter of weeks away from him officially getting to Rocky Top.