The story of the offseason in College Football was the stunning split between Nico Iamaleava and the Tennessee Volunteers. After a run to the College Football Playoff, all seemed to be fine in Knoxville as the Volunteers looked to build on their run. Instead of being able to build on a promising season, Tennessee and Nico Iamaleava disagreed on his NIL value leading to the Volunteers losing their highly touted quarterback just one season into his tenure as the starting quarterback.
When Nico Iamaleava committed to UCLA, it helped the Volunteers start to piece together their plans for life after Nico Iamaleava. Joey Aguilar entered the transfer portal and Tennessee was easily the best landing spot as the two sides sort of needed each other.
After the Volunteers added Joey Aguilar it appeared that the Volunteers had found their starting Quarterback as the rest of their room lacks experience. On Tuesday at SEC Media Days, Josh Heupel calmed the sentiment that it's Aguilar's job stating it's a three man race for the job.
"I know 1st question I'll get is about quarterback. We will have a competition for quarterback between 3 guys, Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger, and George MacIntrye. We've won with a number of different quarterbacks in past & we will with whoever wins the starting job"Josh Heupel
While Josh Heupel can say it's an open competition, the job may already be decided or it may just be a matter of seeing Joey Aguilar on the field. Aguilar comes to Tennessee with a ton of experience while Jake Merklinger has only attempted 9 passes in his career while George MacIntyre is a true freshman.
In Tennessee's Orange and White Spring Game, the Volunteers coaching staff got to see a ton from their two quarterbacks with Nico Iamaleava away from the program. Jake Merklinger was the better quarterback during 1 on 1 drills and the 7 on 7 portion of the day while George MacIntyre impressed in the scrimmage.
Heading into the Summer, Josh Heupel's quarterback battle will be one of the most interesting storylines and could have a massive effect on the SEC season.