Tennessee will begin its fifth football season under coach Josh Heupel on Saturday when the No. 24 Volunteers face Syracuse at the Aflac Kickoff Classic inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It’s also the first start for graduate transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar in a Vols uniform.
“Joey’s quiet, but he’s cool,” Tennessee junior left tackle Lance Heard said in a news conference this week. “I think he’s a good player. We’ll see here Saturday.”
A program that began 2025 with Nico Iamaleava expected to be its offensive leader had to undergo an abrupt change of plans in April when the former five-star quarterback signee left to take over at UCLA. That created an opening for Aguilar to leave UCLA, where he practiced this spring after playing the past two seasons at Appalachian State, and head to Knoxville.
In his two seasons with App State, the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder from Antioch, California, completed 511 of 850 passes (60.0%) for 6,760 yards with 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. He also rushed 140 times for 452 yards and five scores.