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A day after Nico Iamaleava finalized his move from Tennessee to UCLA, Joey Aguilar is doing the same from UCLA to Tennessee in what's essentially a quarterback trade, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Aguilar transferred from Appalachian State to UCLA during the winter portal and was the front-runner to be the Bruins' starting quarterback this fall. But UCLA announced the signing of Iamaleava on Sunday, and Aguilar entered the spring portal on Monday.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said on April 12 when announcing the program was moving forward without Iamaleava that the Vols would add another quarterback in the spring portal. When Aguilar became available, Tennessee immediately showed interest. The 6-3, 220-pound senior has one year of eligibility remaining after passing for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns the past two seasons at Appalachian State. Aguilar, originally from Antioch, California, started his career at Diablo Valley Community College.
Iamaleava, Tennessee's starter last season as a redshirt freshman, entered the portal on April 16, the first day the portal opened. He skipped practice the previous Friday and didn't alert coaches or teammates. After several around the program tried to contact him that day, Iamaleava called offensive coordinator Joey Halzle that night to inform him that he was entering the portal and didn't attend the Vols' spring game the next day. That morning, Heupel -- who said he never heard from Iamaleava -- told the team that Iamaleava would no longer be part of the program.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava for his contributions to the program, but added, "There's no one that's bigger than the Power T, and that includes me."
Iamaleava's representatives were pushing to have his NIL deal increased, sources told ESPN, and On3 reported the Thursday before Iamaleava missed practice on Friday that the two sides were in negotiations. Iamaleava was set to earn in the $2.4 million range this year from Tennessee. He signed his initial contract with the Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, while still in high school. His entire deal was reportedly $8 million, but would have been closer to $10 million had he stayed the entire time at Tennessee. Sources told ESPN that Iamaleava's representatives wanted in the $4 million range for him to stay at Tennessee for a third season.
Iamaleava redshirted his first season on campus and took over the starting duties last year in helping to lead Tennessee to the College Football Playoff. He finished with 2,616 passing yards and 19 touchdowns, but passed for more than 200 yards only twice in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff game.
Aguilar was the Sun Belt Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2023 and started in 24 games during his two years at Appalachian State. He set a school record with 4,002 yards of total offense his first season for the Mountaineers and set a school record for the regular season with 33 touchdown passes. His numbers dipped some in 2024 with 3,003 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. He had a career high of 424 yards on 32 completions in a win over East Carolina. Aguilar was intercepted 14 times last season and threw 24 interceptions during his two-year career at Appalachian State.
As news broke last week that UCLA was a likely destination for Iamaleava, Aguilar's representatives began reaching out to different schools to gauge their interest.
UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said two weeks ago that he had "full belief" in what offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri could do with Aguilar and Sunseri's "record with one-year quarterbacks."
Foster said each day in the spring that Aguilar was settling down and "getting more comfortable running the offense." Aguilar had only been on campus for part of three months. He'll have about that same amount of time to get ready for the start of preseason practice at Tennessee. He will join redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre as the three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. Neither has played a meaningful college snap.
