{"id":759536,"date":"2026-02-18T04:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759536\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:01:12","slug":"tennessee-qb-joey-aguilar-will-attend-the-nfl-combine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/759536\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar will attend the NFL Combine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee<\/a> quarterback Joey Aguilar<\/a>, hoping to receive a favorable ruling in Knox County Chancery Court that would allow him to play an additional season for the Vols, still plans to attend the NFL Combine next week, sources told On3.<\/p>\n

Aguilar had already received a combine invitation, according to sources, but it wasn\u2019t made public as he undergoes the process of trying to return to Tennessee for another collegiate season. Aguilar and his legal team appeared in Knox County Chancery Court last Friday, and Chancellor Chris Heagerty said he would issue a ruling in \u201cshort order\u201d on whether Aguilar will be granted a temporary injunction against the NCAA\u2019s eligibility rules for former junior college players.<\/p>\n

Aguilar\u2019s plan is to attend the combine for only a 48-hour window next week, instead of the normal five-day window, so that he doesn\u2019t jeopardize his eligibility, sources said. Even if Aguilar receives a favorable ruling from Heagerty this week, Aguilar still plans to attend the combine for only two days in case the ruling is overturned on appeal.<\/p>\n

A notification from the NIC office (National Invitation Camp) through National Football Scouting Inc. was sent out to all 32 NFL teams that Aguilar was scheduled as a limited participant at the combine based on the possiblity his eligibility is restored and he returns to collegiate ball for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the point where we need to know something sooner as opposed to later, hopefully before the combine starts,\u201d a source told On3. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful, and Joey is hopeful that he gets good news, but the combine experience will be helpful for Joey either way. He\u2019s just not going to be able to get the full experience like the other quarterbacks attending.\u201d<\/p>\n

The combine begins next Monday and runs through March 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Quarterback drills are set for next Saturday, Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

Aguilar underwent surgery in January to remove a benign tumor in his throwing arm that was pushing on his biceps tendon and labrum. Aguilar is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation and hopes to be cleared to start throwing again sometime next month, but he won\u2019t throw at the combine. Despite the tumor, which caused Aguilar considerable pain and weakness last season, Aguilar still led the SEC in passing yards per game (274.2) and threw 24 touchdowns in his first season at Tennessee after transferring from UCLA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The trickiest scenario for Aguilar would be if the judge rules against him this week and then whether he would go to the combine for the abbreviated two days or stay the entire time.<\/p>\n

Aguilar began his college career at City College of San Francisco in 2019 and redshirted that year. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID pandemic. He played at Diablo Valley (Calif.) Community College in 2021-22 before transferring to Appalachian State<\/a> and playing the 2023 and 2024 seasons for the Mountaineers. After transferring to UCLA and going through spring practice in 2025, Aguilar transferred to Tennessee after Nico Iamaleava<\/a> left Tennessee and transferred to UCLA. Aguilar started all 13 games for the Vols in 2025.<\/p>\n

Aguilar removed himself from the list of plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that former Vanderbilt<\/a> quarterback Diego Pavia<\/a> filed in federal court challenging an NCAA rule that counts seasons spent at junior colleges against players\u2019 eligibility for NCAA Division I (FBS) football. Aguilar\u2019s new suit was filed in Tennessee state court and argues that his junior college seasons should not be counted against him since he\u2019s played only three seasons in the NCAA ranks, two with Appalachian State and one with Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Aguilar would stand to cash in handsomely if he gains another year of eligibility, as his total NIL package at Tennessee would be in excess of $2 million. He would not be projected as high-round selection in this year\u2019s NFL draft, but could certainly improve his NFL stock with another season of college football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar, hoping to receive a favorable ruling in Knox County Chancery Court that would allow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,5986,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-759536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-joey-aguilar-19-freedom","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116089643817450807","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}