Like Pavia, Aguilar was a former junior college quarterback whose eligibility was supposed to expire after the 2024 season. If Pavia could get one more year, why wouldn\u2019t the same rules apply to Aguilar? He visited the compliance office at Appalachian State almost daily, hoping for good news.<\/p>\n
In late December, he got it. Not only did Pavia get an extra year, but the NCAA \u2014 while appealing the ruling \u2014 created a blanket waiver<\/a> extending an extra season of eligibility for similarly situated former juco athletes for the 2025-26 season. Aguilar would have one more year of college football.<\/p>\n After a coaching change at App State, where he had two up-and-down seasons, Aguilar decided to enter the transfer portal to use his bonus year elsewhere.<\/p>\n UCLA offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri was one of the first to reach out, and the two quickly meshed. New App State coach Dowell Loggains met with Aguilar to gauge his interest in staying in Boone, but the chance for a fresh start and a return to his home state was too good to pass up, so he committed to the Bruins.<\/p>\n Joey Aguilar threw for 6,760 yards in two years at Appalachian State. (James Guillory \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n Aguilar, who grew up in the East Bay, enjoyed being back in California. And his parents, Jose and Lydia, were thrilled, now able to drive to see him play rather than take a cross-country flight.<\/p>\n In Westwood, Aguilar worked hard to learn the playbook and give himself a chance to finish his career in style. He planned to have 80-plus family members at his first home game with the Bruins.<\/p>\n In April, tension reached an apex across the country between Tennessee and its quarterback.<\/p>\n Iamaleava, the gem of Tennessee\u2019s 2023 recruiting class and the quarterback who\u00a0helped the Vols to the 2024 College Football Playoff, missed practice amid contract talks<\/a> as his camp sought a raise from the $2.2 million he was scheduled to make this season. The Vols balked. The next day, head coach Josh Heupel confirmed Tennessee was moving on without Iamaleava.<\/p>\n The quarterback submitted paperwork to enter the transfer portal, and speculation quickly connected the Los Angeles-area product to UCLA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe smelled it,\u201d Jose Aguilar said.<\/p>\n Joey\u2019s parents encouraged him to talk to Sunseri and head coach DeShaun Foster to find out what was going on. But Aguilar\u2019s inner circle said getting straight answers proved futile.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a little unsettling because we were finding out information through the media,\u201d said Danny Hernandez, Aguilar\u2019s private quarterbacks coach. \u201cDeShaun Foster wasn\u2019t very forthcoming. \u2026 Tino Sunseri was in the dark on a lot of stuff. \u2026 It felt like nobody knew what was going on and nobody was talking. It just really seemed like a bad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n Jose and Lydia Aguilar said that the UCLA coaches weren\u2019t upfront with Joey about the school\u2019s courtship of Iamaleava.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, they don\u2019t have to be,\u201d Jose said. \u201cIt\u2019s their program, they\u2019re going to run it how they want to run it.\u201d<\/p>\n Foster maintains he kept the line of communication open. \u201cWe talked to Joey before it went public,\u201d he said, \u201cso he heard it from us before he heard it from the media or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey said \u201cthe vibes were off\u201d as the April 25 deadline to enter the spring transfer portal neared.<\/p>\n As Aguilar mulled his college future, those around him began to explore potential options. Hernandez, who works with several college quarterbacks, received inquiries from schools that wanted to know if Aguilar planned to enter the portal. His agents assessed QB depth charts elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew what schools needed quarterbacks,\u201d said Emily McKiernan, the director of Athlete Marketing for Football NIL at talent agency Octagon, which represents Auguilar.\u00a0\u201cWe went to work reaching out to them to make sure he would find the right fit.\u201d<\/p>\n Iamaleava officially announced his commitment to the Bruins<\/a> on April 20. Aguilar said he had a \u201cgood conversation\u201d with the coaches but \u201cjust felt for me and my career, it was best for me to move on from that situation.\u201d The murky QB picture was too risky for Aguilar, who has only one year left to prove to NFL scouts that he\u2019s worth a shot at the next level.<\/p>\n McKiernan said \u201ca handful of options\u201d were considered once Aguilar entered the portal on April 21. But Tennessee quickly shot to the top of the list.<\/p>\n With Iamaleava gone, the Vols had a clear need, with only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster \u2014 redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre \u2014 who have attempted passes in college (nine combined).<\/p>\n Aguilar felt comfortable after speaking with Heupel, offensive coordinator Joey Halzle and director of internal and advance scouting Billy High. \u201cEverybody was super real and super genuine,\u201d Aguilar said. By the end of the day, Aguilar committed and agreed to a contract worth around $1.2 million, according to ESPN.<\/p>\n The Aguilars don\u2019t harbor ill will toward UCLA. Joey said he enjoyed his time working with Sunseri. Jose, who has coached youth and high school football for 30 years, understands the business side of it.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re building, and Nico\u2019s a three-year guy and Joey\u2019s a one-year guy. We get it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lydia said she wants Joey to \u201chave the last year that he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n Joey said he has no complaints.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not mad at anybody,\u201d he said. \u201cEverything happens for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n Aguilar\u2019s college football career nearly ended before it truly began.<\/p>\n Despite four years as a starter in high school, Aguilar had no recruiters sniffing around.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t have anything,\u201d he said. \u201cNo college contact, nothing coming out of high school.\u201d<\/p>\n So he enrolled at City College of San Francisco in 2019 seeking an opportunity.<\/p>\n He redshirted his first year, watching the games from the sidelines while on the travel squad and questioning if he should continue to pursue football. He spent more than $100 of his own money each week on the BART \u2014 \u201cIt was a lot of money that I didn\u2019t have,\u201d Aguilar said \u2014 to make the 90-minute (each way) commute to practice. His day started at 6 a.m. and he didn\u2019t return home until around 10 p.m.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was wearing on him,\u201d Lydia said. \u201cIt was like \u2018Do I still want to do this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In high school, Aguilar had taken a firefighting class and became enamored with the profession. He thought a lot about it during his long train rides to and from campus.<\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Man, I might as well just stop playing football and start my fireman career.\u2019 But my friends and family were like \u2018No, just stay patient.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n He pushed forward. After one season, he transferred to Diablo Valley College, only a 20-minute commute each way.<\/p>\n Darr was intrigued by Aguilar\u2019s potential but could sense the quarterback needed support after a difficult year at his first juco stop.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was pretty discouraged coming out of there,\u201d said Darr, who has since retired from DVC and is now coaching high school football in Texas.<\/p>\n The postponement of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic didn\u2019t help. By the time the 2021 season rolled around, it had been nearly two years since Aguilar had played in a competitive game.<\/p>\n DVC already had an established starter, Dylan Graham, who went on to earn a scholarship at Division II University of Texas-Permian Basin, but Aguilar quickly made an impression on the coaching staff. Graham remained the starter out of camp, but there eventually came a point where they had to get Aguilar on the field. On one of his first plays, Aguilar threw a long touchdown on a post route.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as I put him in, it was like, \u2018Damn, I don\u2019t know what I was waiting for,\u2019\u201d said Drew Anderson, DVC\u2019s offensive coordinator at the time. \u201cAnd he just kind of took off from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Going into his second year at Diablo Valley, Aguilar was the unquestioned starter, but an injury in his second game sidelined him for a month. He grew concerned because it was his last year of junior college football and his last chance to get recruited by Division I schools.<\/p>\n Those worries turned out to be unwarranted. He returned to the field and schools took notice. Coastal Carolina was his first FBS offer. App State wasn\u2019t far behind.<\/p>\n \u201cI liked his attitude,\u201d said Kevin Barbay, App State\u2019s offensive coordinator at the time. \u201cHe\u2019s a competitor. The moment\u2019s not too big for him. He\u2019s very confident in himself and his abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Aguilar committed after taking an official visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought, \u2018Finally, everything has paid off,\u2019\u201d Lydia Aguilar said.<\/p>\n Before his first FBS start, Joey Aguilar sat at the 4-yard line at Kenan Stadium.<\/p>\n The biggest opportunity of his career had arrived. The Mountaineers were on the road at North Carolina to face the Tar Heels and future first-round NFL Draft pick Drake Maye. Aguilar started that game because Ryan Burger, tabbed QB1 out of training camp, broke a finger in the season opener a week earlier.<\/p>\n Aguilar liked to sit at the 4 because that was his jersey number. Through his AirPods, he listened to \u201cLong Nights\u201d by TMOFF, reflecting on the journey that brought him to that point.<\/p>\n It took a minute just to get here That night, Aguilar showed the steely poise that had won his junior college coaches over, throwing two touchdown passes and leading three scoring drives in the fourth quarter and overtime in a 40-34 loss to the Tar Heels.<\/p>\n With Burger sidelined the rest of the season, Aguilar shined, throwing for 3,757 yards and 33 touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers to the Sun Belt championship game. His second season was more turbulent. His numbers dipped across the board, and the team went 5-6 and missed a bowl game after winning nine games in 2023.<\/p>\n His football career was seemingly over.<\/p>\n Then the Pavia ruling changed everything, setting off the chain reaction that led Aguilar from Boone to Los Angeles, then back east to Knoxville.<\/p>\n During his short stay at UCLA, Aguilar went through spring practice with the Bruins while concurrently working to finish his degree in communication studies from App State, which he earned in early May. Once the dust settled on the Iamaleava saga and Aguilar\u2019s pivot, he moved in mid-May to Knoxville to get to work.<\/p>\n “That connection means everything.”#Vols<\/a> Miles Kitselman says he and QB Joey Aguilar hit it off right away. pic.twitter.com\/4EbGn4ai7m<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_24234087-e1753302305305.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Been a long ride, I done put that thing in fifth gear
So selective with my time, only waiting to see the check clear
We done came a long way, can\u2019t wait to see next year<\/p>\n