Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar impresses in debut vs. Syracuse, restores some faith in Vols offense

Tennessee's move to quarterback Joey Aguilar was born, in part, out of desperation. The Vols had to scramble for a solution after incumbent starter Nico Iamaleava unexpectedly entered the NCAA transfer portal right after spring practice and took his talents to UCLA. 

In an unprecedented quarterback trade, Tennessee enticed Aguilar to leave UCLA after he went through spring practice with the Bruins. He was, at that point of the year, the only realistic option available, though Tennessee tried to take some big swings on entrenched starters elsewhere. 

The Vols may have just struck gold. 

Joey Aguilar named Tennessee starting QB: Can former App State star reinvigorate Vols' passing attack?

Will Backus

Aguilar, who won an offseason competition against Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre to become the third transfer to start at quarterback for Josh Heupel at Tennessee, shook off a slow start to impress in Tennessee's 45-26 season-opening win against Syracuse on Saturday. 

In spite of the fact that he's spent less than six month at Tennessee, and he didn't get the benefit of going through spring practice ahead of his first season with the program -- which means that he had to cram to learn the playbook over the summer while familiarizing himself with the team ahead of fall camp -- Aguilar showed solid command of Tennessee's offense and looked comfortable operating with a thin wide receiver group. 

Aguilar was high on a few of his early throws, and that same Tennessee wide receiver corps had four drops in the first two drives, which stopped the Vols from establishing early momentum. Aguilar's second drive ended in a touchdown, though, thanks in large part to a 25-yard quarterback scramble that moved the ball near Syracuse territory. 

Then, in the second quarter, Aguilar connected with slot receiver Braylon Staley on a perfectly placed 73-yard touchdown pass, demonstrating nice touch -- something missing from Tennessee's offense over the past couple of years -- and good anticipation to hit Staley in stride. 

Both Iamaleava and his predecessor, Joe Milton III, had plus arm talent but struggled with accuracy on deep balls. They were both also slow to process and, at times, caused Tennessee's up-tempo offense to get bogged down. 

That same problem was not apparent in Aguilar's first start. Aguilar's experience (he started 24 games over two seasons at Appalachian State before transferring to UCLA) was evident as he navigated the pocket and, for the most part, delivered the ball quickly. 

To cap Tennessee's first drive of the second half, Aguilar avoided an edge rusher on third-and-7 from Syracuse's 7-yard line and delivered a touchdown pass to running back Star Thomas while rolling to his weakside. 

Aguilar was able to throw across his body on the move and put the ball where only Thomas could catch it. 

Aguilar even battled through an apparent injury to play all four quarters and, though Tennessee's coaching staff may want him to slide more often, he frequently finished runs through contact while showing a willingness to scramble if a play broke down. 

It was not a perfect debut -- Aguilar did complete just 57% of his passes and he was high on some short to intermediate throws -- but Aguilar provided plenty for Tennessee fans to be optimistic about while throwing for a game-high 247 yards and three touchdowns and rushing for 34 yards on six carries.