Lucas Panzica talks about the conclusion of the Nico Iamaleava, Tennessee Vols quarterback drama, as Nico is officially a UCLA Bruin, and the Vols have Joey Aguilar, after the two school swapped QBs.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The Nico Iamaljava saga of 2025 is officially over.
00:04Nico has a new landing spot.
00:06Tennessee has a new quarterback,
00:08and he's got an opportunity to do something special in 2025.
00:11We'll talk about it next.
00:15Hey, Lucas Panzeca with you.
00:17104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.
00:20It has been 10 days since we first learned about Nico Iamaljava
00:23negotiating his contract with Tennessee.
00:26It has felt like 10 months.
00:28We don't need to re-litigate how we got to this point.
00:31You all know that well by now,
00:32so let's get up to speed with the latest.
00:34Over the weekend, Nico made it official.
00:36He's headed back to the West Coast to play for UCLA
00:39as he put out in a statement,
00:41thanking everybody at Tennessee for his time there
00:44and announcing that he will be a UCLA Bruin in 2025.
00:48Now, the NIL figure reportedly is in the range of $1.5 million
00:52for the upcoming season.
00:55Obviously, a far cry from the $2.4 million that Nico was set to make at Tennessee in 2025.
01:02So, how do the Vols replace him?
01:04Well, they do a quarterback swap with the UCLA Bruins.
01:07As it was reported on Monday,
01:08Chris Lowe of ESPN, the first one on it,
01:11Pete Nakos of On3 Sports,
01:12confirming that Joey Aguilar will transfer from UCLA to Tennessee in the spring window,
01:18rounding out Tennessee's quarterback room,
01:20which now has three faces as he joins Jake Merklinger and George McIntyre.
01:26And finally, we see the end to a saga that has been one of the biggest turning points,
01:31really, in this new NIL era of college football history that we're in.
01:35So, what do we know about new Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar?
01:39A lot of you have probably seen the numbers by now,
01:41but we'll briefly go over them here.
01:43He's been the App State starting quarterback for two years
01:45before entering the winter transfer portal after the 2024 season to go to UCLA.
01:51Aguilar really broke out and turned some heads in 2023
01:54when he threw for 3,757 yards, completed 63.7% of his passes,
02:01and threw for 33 touchdowns to go with 10 interceptions
02:04in a season where App State went 9-5 and lost in the Sunbelt Championship game.
02:09Aguilar took a step back last season,
02:11as did the rest of that App State team,
02:13as he threw for just over 3,000 yards,
02:15completing only 56% of his passes and 23 touchdowns to go with 14 interceptions.
02:22Now, Aguilar has been a threat with his legs so far in his college football career,
02:26nearly 500 rush yards in the two seasons combined to go with five rushing touchdowns.
02:32He hit the portal and went to UCLA for a reported NIL sum of $1.2 million for 2025.
02:38Now, we do not know what the figure that Aguilar will play under is for Tennessee in 2025,
02:44but clearly he went to UCLA, presumably to be the starter.
02:48Things changed after the highly publicized divorce between Nico and Tennessee.
02:53Nico arrives in Westwood.
02:55Aguilar arrives in Tennessee, and that's where we're at.
02:58Now, the big question here is who plays quarterback for Tennessee in 2025?
03:02It's not so turnkey that the Vols were just going to go out and find a starting replacement for Nico Iamaliava.
03:09It would have to be a high-level player for that to be the case.
03:13I believe Joey Aguilar is coming to Knoxville to compete with both George McIntyre and Jake Merklinger
03:19for the starting job in 2025.
03:22I do know one thing, though.
03:23If Joey Aguilar wins that starting job and performs,
03:26and is able to elevate this Tennessee offense from what it was in 2024,
03:31he will automatically become a Tennessee legend
03:34as he replaces the five-star that wanted too much money.
03:38That is how this particular snapshot of Tennessee football history will be remembered
03:43if Aguilar comes in and grabs the reins of this offense and takes it and just runs with it.
03:49Now, he's in a difficult position.
03:51Joey Aguilar obviously did not get the benefit of spring practice learning Josh Heupel's system.
03:56So, the next few months are going to come fast and furious for the former App State and then UCLA
04:01and now Tennessee volunteer Joey Aguilar.
04:04He'll have to pick it up and compete in fall camp leading up to that week one kickoff
04:09against Syracuse for the 2025 season.
04:11But the dust has finally settled.
04:13Tennessee has its guy, and it is Joey Aguilar coming in to play quarterback for the Vols.