LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Tennessee signal-caller faked a handoff to DeSean Bishop, pointing his eyes downfield.
Joey Aguilar had been used to coming out of the gates hot during his time with Tennessee, engineering an offensive attack that had scored on all but one of its opening drives this season. After not posting any points in this manner during an ugly loss to Alabama, Aguilar wouldn’t let it happen again.
He saw his chance.
The 6-foot-3 senior pulled the trigger, sailing a perfect 35-yard touchdown strike to trusty receiver Chris Brazzell II in the back of the endzone on the fourth play of the game. The party was only just getting started.
“Our main focus this week was to nearly be perfect,” Aguilar said. “I mean, you can never be perfect, but you can be close. And we went out there, had a great week of preparation, and just executed. We did what we needed to do.”
For how poorly the Vols’ defense appeared at points in their 56-34 road victory over Kentucky, the UCLA transfer needed his very best to lead his group to a favorable result. Aguilar delivered, and then some.
His season-high 396 yards through the air almost pale in comparison to his 77% completion rate, an efficient mark that Tennessee got out of the man who led the nation in interceptions a year ago. Aguilar threw consecutive incompletions only once. His trio of touchdown strikes all came from some significant range.
Maybe the most notable arrived with seconds left in the first half, a 13-yard dart to tight end Ethan Davis when the Vols needed a touchdown the most. Tennessee only led by a touchdown at the time, but when Aguilar connected with his guy, the temperature of things changed.
Aguilar averaged 19.8 yards per completion on the evening, finding his usual knack for the deep ball to generate splash plays. The Antioch, California, product succeeded on six deep passing plays of 15 yards or more. Five of them tallied 30 yards or more, his longest coming on a 62-yard touchdown bomb to Mike Matthews. Aguilar’s affinity for the longball is a factor of his game he knows he can lean on.
“I feel like that’s something that I had just growing up in high school,” Aguilar said. “Shout out the guys going out there making catches. My job was to deliver the ball, and I did. They just went out there and made plays.”
He helped three of his wideouts achieve 100-yard outings, a feat not accomplished by a Tennessee team since a 2019 matchup with Missouri.
“He’s calm,” head coach Josh Heupel said. “He does have really good touch. He trusts his wide receivers. He’s got good rapport with them. It’s a combination of his fundamentals, he has a strong arm but it’s a catchable ball, too. I thought he saw the field really well tonight.”
After their clutch scoring to end the first half, the Vols would embark on three more consecutive touchdown drives to put themselves out of the Wildcats’ reach. Not a single one of these marches lasted longer than 2:19, but still needed at least 63 yards to complete. Aguilar’s command and sense for tempo in Tennessee’s offensive scheme is a trait that his coaches have observed since his late arrival to campus in the fall.
Not every quarterback can handle the Vols’ speed, but for some guys, it brings out their very best.
“He’s eight games into this,” Heupel said. “You watch the video, you talk to him, you feel like he’s made up of the right things, but you still don’t know what you got until the lights come on. The balls on the tee and he’s super composed. Never too high, never too low. Fierce competitor, very tough mentally, physically, emotionally. Very within himself and those are winning traits.”
