Andy & Ari On3 - Tennessee deep dive: Who replaces Nico for the Vols?

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

As our deep dive into our On3 team sites continues, we head over to the hills of East Tennessee to check in on Josh Heupel and the Volunteers. Brent Hubbs, publisher of VolQuest, joins Andy to discuss everything going on within the Tennessee football program. Who will be Tennessee's quarterback week 1? How will the receiver core emerge? Find out here and much more regarding the Tennessee Volunteers here. More news from all things VolQuest here: https://www.on3.com/teams/tennessee-volunteers/ Follow Brent Hubbs on X: https://x.com/Brent_Hubbs (0:00-1:27) Intro: Tennessee Volunteers(1:28-3:47) Brent Hubbs of VolQuest joins(3:46-5:29) Expectations entering year 5 for Josh Heupel(5:30-12:39) Tennessee's offseason, quarterback position(12:40-16:05) Josh Heupel's offense in the redzone(16:06-19:49) Who emerges on Tennessee's offensive line?(19:50-21:56) Can anyone replace Dylan Sampson?(21:57-26:32) Tennessee's defense(26:33-30:29) 2025 Schedule for Tennessee(30:30-33:28) QB1 in Knoxville?(33:29-34:00) Conclusion Want to watch the show instead? Join us LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on three vacation week continues. That's right. Andy and Ari and I'm Andy and Ari is not here right now because we're off. We're somewhere gallivanting maybe not together, but gallivanting for sure. But of course we would never leave you with no shows. We got to talk college football all day, every day,

every week until we get games again. And one thing we thought we'd do for this week is help get everybody ready for the season with some in-depth previews of certain teams that are kind of newsmakers throughout the offseason or just really interesting going into this season. Today's edition, maybe the most interesting team of the offseason, one has dominated the headlines. The Tennessee volunteers you heard from Oklahoma yesterday. This time it's Tennessee, which is on Oklahoma schedule, by the way. And the Vols, of course, we talked about them a ton at the end of spring practice as Nico Iamaljava decided he was not going to be a Tennessee Vol anymore. And now he's at UCLA.

Joey Aguilar, the Appalachian State transfer who thought he was going to be UCLA starting quarterback. He's at Tennessee now. It's crazy. To break it all down, we bring on someone who knows more about the Tennessee Vols than anybody on the face

of the earth. Brett Hubs, the publisher of on threes ball quest.com. How are you doing Brent? I'm doing outstanding. I hope you're doing well. Happy vacation week to everybody. You guys getting some much needed time. I'm

glad that we can do this show for everybody today. Hard to believe where we're standing at heading into the second week of June here, football is gonna be here quickly in terms of fall camp and as you mentioned with Tennessee, just a ton of questions. Just a ton of questions for Josh Hyple entering his fifth year. Are the answers to the questions better than they were a few years ago when he

had questions? Probably yes, but what are those answers look like is gonna be fascinating. question. If you were a few years ago when he had questions, probably yes, but what are those answers look like is going to be fascinating. I mean, this is this has got as much intrigue to an off season and a

preseason camp. Andy, as we've seen in the Josh Hyple era other than year one when you were at all wondering, is it going to work in the SEC? Uh this yeah, a bunch of questions but in a way, it kind of reminds me of year one because we sort of wrote them off year one. We'd never seen a team that had fired a coach

and then everybody jumped into the transfer portal and you had to rebuild the roster basically from scratch. Well, Hypal did that and did a really good job with that. Now he probably faces as many questions as he did that year. You know, you're coming off a playoff appearance, but the team feels markedly different. The offensive line that had been, you know, a lot of Jeremy Pruitt recruits,

they've played their way out of eligibility. Now it's a Josh Hyple recruited offensive line The defense is still gonna be really good. And then of course, you've got the quarterback situation Well, and I think that's what you stand but when you look back at year one, what was the key to your one success? What was the key to them? Overachieving in the eyes of most people a guy named Hinden Hooker burst it onto the scene. You didn't know that I mean he wasn't even the starter. He didn't win the job in fall camp. And then he goes on and obviously gets better and better throughout the 21 season. And then in 22 is a Heisman Trophy

candidate until he has the knee injury. And it's really a shame that he wasn't a finalist. I think he should have been a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. But the catalyst for year one was they found a quarterback. And so here we are five years later, four years later, and the question is, what do they have at quarterback? Cuz that's where it all starts and where it all stems from for Josh Heipel's offense. What kind of quarterback play does he get and what is he gonna get out of this newly revamped quarterback room,

a room that was set where Jake Merklinger is like, well, I'm not going to play unless it's mop up duty or, or there's an injury. George McIntyre is like, well, I'm not a factor. I'm going to red shirt and it's going to be the Nico show. And now all of a sudden there's three guys in the room at all different levels, age wise, maturity, physically and mentally. And now they're in a room competing to try to go win the starting quarterback job. Jake Merklinger has spent the month of May, he spent the month of May working out

with a bunch of his teammates. I mean, with the wide receivers trying to get a jump start ahead of Joey Aguilar. Joey Aguilar is in town. He's starting to work out with those quarterbacks. He's been just burying himself in the film room. So those two guys are battling. And you can argue George McIntyre is maybe the most talented of the trio. It's just George is probably not physically ready right now.

But how far can he develop physically this off season this summer? So it's just a total different dynamic than any of us expected it to be when we got ready to close out, uh, the middle part of April. Yeah. And how was, how was everybody adjusted to that? I mean, the, the Nico stuff as, as we learned after all of that shook out, it was kind of ongoing since December, but how did it, how did the team, the coaching staff handle that kind of shift from, okay, we've got a quarterback

who started for a year or two. Now this is all up in the air. Well, I think we're just starting to learn that because the initial reaction is, look, you don't want to be here. Don't be here. Fine. Okay. You're going to bail the day before the spring game,

like what are we doing here? And so you had the emotion of almost good riddance in some ways from not just fans, but I think people within the program, like look, if you don't wanna be here, you don't wanna be here. So applaud to Josh Hypple for not getting held hostage, right? We're moving on, he makes a statement before Nico ever does that we've moved on in a different direction and everybody stands up and applauds Josh Heiple.

Well, now the reality set in of who's gonna be the quarterback. And how that goes this summer, how those guys develop from a chemistry standpoint, how this team develops, it's gonna be interesting to see. It doesn't feel like Niko, I know he wasn't a bad teammate, it's unfair to suggest that he was. I don't think he was real close with a lot of guys on this team. I think he was kind of in an isolated kind of world, kind of went and did his job and went back home. And, you know, that was

kind of a lot of what he did. He hung out with some guys, but he wasn't the biggest rah-rah guy. So where's the leadership on this team right now? Who takes the reins in that? Can Joey Aguilar come in and essentially in a hundred days become the leader and become a guy who can execute the way you want him to? He has the most experience, but not in this system. What's the carryover from stuff he did at App State? You know, I mean, how many similar things were there with some pistol stuff and different things like that?

You know, we'll find that out, you know, and again, I think Jake Merklingers basically said, well, why not me? I mean, I'm gonna go win the job. Let me go do everything I can to win the job. He had a nice spring. He was much better this spring than he was in the fall. And so everybody's trying to figure it out, you know, and you've been around these Andy, you you've been around quarterback battles in the summer, that

they're the most fascinating battles because it's so much more than a guy getting physically better. It's what kind of leader does he, which who does the receivers gravitate to? Right. And those are really fascinating to watch. We've seen some of them go well. We've seen some of them go well. We've seen some of them go poorly. We've seen that.

We've seen that happen at the university of Tennessee in 2005. I mean, Philip former picked the wrong quarterback and it costs that team dearly on offense that year and wasted a really good defense. So, Oh, and I'll go the, my first year on the beat in 2000, where they start out going with AJ Suggs and then realized that the Casey Claussen probably gives him their best chance to win, but he's a true freshman and they eventually decide he's the guy and it's one of those situations where the person who starts

game one may very well not be the person who starts game ten or game eleven Yeah, could be. I mean, you know, we will and that's that's going to be the the interesting thing. I mean, this is this situation is this is a different because there's not one guy who

there's all the financial investment in. So, you gotta play the guy right that that you're all in, you know, he's your quote first all in, he's your quote, first round draft pick. You're paying him first round draft pick money in college world, obviously not real money like that what you would make in the NFL. But his salary is way skewed compared to the rest of the quarterbacks. That's not what this room looks like.

And so it is gonna be interesting. I think that's gonna be the biggest story all summer long. I mean, Josh Hyple and Joey Halsley, how quickly can you get a new guy ready? And how far can a couple of of of returning or a couple of new young guys, how far could they go in this offense? Well, and and speaking of the offensive, you know, we we got another round of critiques of the offense during all the Niko drama, because that was one of the, I'm just going to say it, they retconned a reason for him to leave, and that they decided it was going to be the offense. But, you know, there are questions about how well this offense works just in the chase for a national title, because, you know, Tennessee runs it, Ole Miss runs it, Mississippi State's

running it now. This is the old Art Riles Baylor offense, or at least the bones of it are. It's one of those that has always been criticized as when it runs into truly great defenses and great athletes, it tends to struggle. Now is this offense going to have answers? My question is about the receiver position because Dante Thornton is gone, Drew McCoy is gone, Squirrel White is transferred to Florida State. Who steps in? Is it Mike Matthews, who is a five star guy in the class of 2024? Is it Chris Brazel, the transfer? He's not a transfer anymore, but he transferred last year from Tulane. Who is it that takes over as the guy that whoever wins quarterback job is gonna gravitate toward?

I mean, it feels like it should be Mike Matthews. I mean, I think he's the most talented guy. Year two in this offense, we've seen receivers take real steps forward. So I mean, it kind of feels like that. I mean, we'll see how much better Brazel is in year two. I think the interesting thing with Chris Brazel, he really struggled with his confidence last year and he did not get off to a good start.

I think he kind of questioned a little bit about whether or not he could play at this level. I think he lost some confidence in himself. I think the coaches probably lost some confidence in him. And as a result of that, he did not have the year we all thought he was gonna have. How does he bounce back from that in year two? I mean, he's talked a lot in the spring about developing a flush mentality, flush a bad play and not let one bad play become two or three,

which was a problem for him a year ago. And it resulted in some really critical drops and some plays that he should have made that he didn't make. So what kind of step does he take? What kind of step does Mike Matthews take? They didn't get a big name transfer guy at the receiver position. They don't have a lot of numbers there.

They've got a bunch of young guys there that are going to have to go and figure it out. How much do they tweak to help those young guys there that are gonna have to go and figure it out. How much do they tweak to help those young guys? I mean, Josh Hypple said this for years, when talking about the quarterback position. We've won with tall ones and short ones and guys with great arms and guys with great legs and this, that and the other. Well now, you're gonna have to win at the receiver position with a bunch of young guys.

How do you help those guys win? I think that's gonna be a real challenging point for this team and fans are looking for those big splash plays again. But I'm gonna tell you right now, Andy, the biggest stat for this offense, and I think this is, and I haven't looked in it, and I should do this. This would be probably what my job entails me to do, is I should probably research in more detail the, the art Braille stuff, particularly red zone.

And I think when you look at the red zone for Tennessee and you talk about big picture offense and I know we're going to dive down into various positions, but when you look at big picture offense, the red zone storyline is something that has to be better. Here's where Hinden Hooker was with the red zone in is something that has to be better. Here's where Hinden Hooker was with the red zone in 2022, okay? Tennessee had 53 touchdowns and 63 trips that year. Their touchdown rate in the red zone was 84%. The last two years, that rate has dropped to 62%.

So if you're a defensive coordinator and you're preparing for Tennessee, what do you want to limit? Well, you don't want to give up the 80 yard, throw it over your head play like they made a living on in 22 with all those big splash plays and even in 21 to a degree. So we're going to let you drive the length of the field

and then we'll see if we can keep you out of the end zone. If we can hold you to a field goal, how are you when you get inside the 20? Tennessee, which makes much better inside the 20. And that makes sense, Brent, cause you know, for those who've never looked closely at this offense that kind of the, it's not a secret. The main thrust of this offense is it spreads you

so wide as a defense, you essentially have to declare how many guys you're going to have in the box or whether you're going to have people in run support, or whether they're going to be out in coverage. They make you go so far away from the line of scrimmage that you can't really mask it, you can't disguise it. So when you get in the red zone, everything's compressed. So that width When you get in the red zone, everything's compressed. So that width doesn't help you as much because then you don't have as much vertical space to work with. So the defense can start disguising things again.

They're not making it obvious. Like when Bryce Petty, Baylor's quarterback in 2014, looked at a defense from the 50-yard line, then he knew exactly what they were going to do. He knew he could look at where the safeties were and knew exactly what to do, whether he should he should hand it off to the back, whether they should go deep. But when he got inside the 15, it's a different picture. And so Brent, you make a really good point. And I'm maybe I didn't appreciate hidden hookers ability as a runner because in the red zone, that's the equalizer

When when hidden hooker can see that nothing's open and can take off and get in the end zone. That's That probably makes a huge difference Yeah, I think the other thing too is the processing and the decision-making and getting the ball out of your hands fast Yeah, I think Hinden was really good And really gifted at a quick read. You know, slant, whatever they're gonna read there, get through the progressions really quickly. Because as you said, the windows are tighter, the spacing is not what it is.

So what's Tennessee's answer in the red zone? I think for all of the fans wanting the big splash plays, and listen, Tennessee missed on a bunch of those last year. One of these quarterbacks gonna have to make that play and the receivers are gonna have to catch the ball. They dropped too many deep balls. I mean, you go back to that Alabama win Tennessee had last year, close game. Tennessee missed probably three touchdowns.

That they schemed it up, they just didn't execute it the right way. So they have to do some of that. But again, I think a lot of people are going to say, Hey, we're going to let you drive the link to the field. Let's we're going to test your patience. How patients are we'll go light box. Let's see if you can methodically go 12 or 14 plays on us. Cause we're not going to give you the three play 80 yard drive.

Yeah. We're going to do whatever we can to limit that. So then you get down in that tight area. How do you execute better in the tight area? So we are retiring one of my favorite college football stuff, weird college football stats, just odd. No player recruited out of high school by Josh Hyple at Tennessee and started on the offensive line yet.

That is going to change probably game one,. Depending on, probably whoever starts at center and then possibly right tackle David Sanders, the number one offensive tackle recruiting class 2025. So how is that group going to change? Because obviously, you know, it was, there was a lot of continuity there. I mean, there's, you know, Spragans and, um, their center had, they did yet three year starters that had been consistent players.

Lance heard obviously comes from LSU and starts to tackle, but yeah, Cooper Mays and Gervonta Spragans were there for seemingly forever. Now it's going to be a completely different group. Yeah, it is. And I think the, I think the question with that group and they've got to have to play Well, if they don't play well, the quarterback situation is not going to be the topic, right? The topic is going to be this offensive line the difference in this offensive line this summer compared to lash the last couple years they're just not gonna bubble wrap guys, right like you're gonna go practice and you can go play and

They're just not gonna bubble wrap guys, right? Like you're gonna go practice and you're gonna go play and you're gonna scrimmage because we gotta see what we have. I think they're pretty set and part of the student transfer Larry Johnson transferred out. I mean, David Sanders gonna start at right tackle. You've made a big investment into him being on your roster. He's really talented. There'll be some learning curves and there'll be some growing pains, but I don't think you're going to sit here and say midway through the first 10

days, two weeks in August and go, he's not one of our five best. So I think they're going to start a freshman. That's going to be a recruit. It's going to be a signee. And you're right. That stat is going to get retired. I think Wendell Moy, who Tennessee took at the transfer portal out of Arizona, was a great get for them at left guard. I think he is going to be entrenched there. The X factor for me in terms of returning guys is what does Lance Hurd look like? Lance didn't have a great year last year. He had a knee procedure back in July a year ago, out of shape when he came to fall camp was limited, never really got into shape and got banged up again.

It was not a good year for Lance Hurd. Okay, this is quote contract here for Lance Hurd right this big money year beyond NIL money, if you if you have a big year so how does he handle your two in this system, how does he handle the way that he plays and what kind of shape he's in and that type of deal. I don't know that he's gonna be great but I think he will be better and he has to be better for Tennessee. He's a big key. I think the other thing is at the center position they've been looking for Cooper Major's replacement for four years and haven't found it yet. Is that William Satterwhite? Is the transfer Sam Pendleton the better fit for you at safety? Or excuse me, at center? And then

you go find a right tag or right guard out of your high school recruiting. So I think they're pretty set at three of the five spots. The question then becomes what's the best combination of center and right guard to put your best five on the field and that's that's different, right? Because yeah, well, main stays not there. I mean, you're like, okay, I know who these two guys are because Sprague and Cooper Mays have played thousands of snaps. We're good there. The center the center is a key for this offense, particularly with a young

quarterback. Yeah, I mean, you saw a couple years ago when Cooper, you know? Yeah, a couple years ago when Cooper Mays couldn't play, like it was a completely different offense. And I mean, the other thing is Dylan Sampson was such a huge engine for this offense last year. Can somebody step into those shoes?

Because, you know, it's one thing to say, because this offense, like the other thing about the Veer and shoot offense is the idea is to run for 300 yards a game. Everybody thinks it's a big passing offense. But when it's working, you're running for a lot of yards. So you know, could Peyton Lewis just step in and gain those yards. But I think what Dylan Sampson did was was pretty special,

particularly when you got in there tight, I thought he was, he was very good inside the 10 yard line where, you know, it's hard to be good as a pack. Yeah. And here's the thing. I think you look at the history of Josh Hyple and you say, look, they're going to be able to run the football. Now the question is, can they run it in short yardage situations?

Can they run it inside the 10 where you're not playing the box, the box game where you're not playing the count, you know, all right, six in the box, we're going to run it, which is what this offense is all about is counting those bodies. What are you in a short yardage situation? What kind of running team are you when you got a stack line that you're going to run against, you know, in those tight windows as well? What they're going to miss in Dylan Sampson is they're going to miss some of the explosive plays, I think. We'll see what Peyton Lewis can do. I love Deshaun Bishop. I love

everything about Deshaun Bishop. I mean, this is a guy who's bet on himself. You know, he's a former walk on. He was doubted, you know, didn't nobody thought he was necessarily an SEC player, local product, really productive. Every time he scrimmages, he continues to be productive. Like he just won't go away type deal, but Andy, he's not a home run threat. Right? Like he's not going to break off the 40 and 50 yard run. So what's this running game look like if it's a bit more methodical?

Because Sampson was more of a bigger playback. We know Jaylen Wright two years ago was a home run hitter. Where are they when they don't have quote the big home run hitter in the running back position? We'll see. I mean, I think they'll be successful running the ball, but they could be a little more methodical running it than they were a season ago. Spent most of the show talking about the offense because there are the most

questions, but we should talk about this defense because that's where Tennessee, I would think, feels the most confident. Jermon McCoy is one of the best corners in the country. Boo Carter, maybe the best pure football player on this team and obviously may contribute to the offense as well in a role at receiver. But what is this defense bring back? And I mean, just having Tim Banks back when he was clearly a wanted man on the job market in the off season. Well, I mean, I think it starts in a lot of scrimmage.

And the one thing that they've done on the defensive line is they have committed from day one, Rodney Garner has to playing young people. And so you don't have, when we're sitting here talking about receivers, you look and these guys don't have a bunch of experience, right? You're looking at the offensive line and you're gonna play inexperienced guys here or even returning guys in your program or high school signees. Gonna be really getting their first crack at it when you talk about William Satterwhite or Shane Umaral.

When you look at them on the defensive line, that's not the case. Bryce Edson's played a bunch of snaps, he's a veteran. They played Davin Hobbs as a freshman and rotated him in. He's gonna be in that rotation as more of a veteran now. Jackson Moy is the transfer who was gonna red shirt a year ago as a transfer but was too good to keep off the field. He returns. They're gonna move in some freshmen to be a part of this.

Ethan Utley is a guy who's making as much buzz this off season as anybody in the defensive interior, cuz he's tougher than I think a lot of people thought he was gonna be. He's still gotta gain some weight, but they're gonna play six defensive tackles. Now, you don't have James Spears, Joshua Joseph has talent, he has to be a better finisher. Okay, he's got, he played the run really well. He did some nice things from a pass rush standpoint, but he has to be a finisher for Tennessee

off the edge. But you know, I think they'll be a little more aggressive. I think last year they believed so much in that defensive front that they didn't blitz a ton. Some of the more, you know, kind of chaotic blitzes, sell out type blitzes, they were a little more calculating. I think you'll probably see them be a little more aggressive until they kind of get their sea legs under them as a rush team off the edge and what kind of interior pass rush do they get.

So they may blitz a little bit more from the linebacker position. I think leadership on that side of the balls is a question. Aaron Carter's got to take a big leadership role there. And he's super talented, his ceiling, he's not yet come close to hitting, in my opinion. How much better is he as a communicator in depth? All those things this season will be really interesting to watch. The biggest jump they made a year ago, Andy defensively,

was the way that they could play third down. They could play third and long and they could play coverage. And they could play coverage because of Blue Carter, because of Ricky Gibson, and because of Jermod McCoy. When you got corners that you believe in, then all of a sudden you don't have to bring a bunch of a gap blitzes, right? You can keep the ball in front of you, rally to the ball. McCoy's

coming off a torn ACL that he suffered in January. What does that look like in September? He's he's quote ahead of schedule and all those things Andy, but you know that injury, you know that position. That's a tough one to come back from

in short order. So how quickly does he get back because he was an all American caliber corner, shut down guy. We don't have to roll coverage to help him. We can let him go against the best receiver. Willie Martinez typically doesn't flip flop his corners as games progress last year. They would flip and put Jamaa McCoy against the best receiver on the team. Okay. As the Alabama game went on last year, you looked up and

Jamaal McCoy is following Ryan Williams everywhere. Yeah. And so what do they look like a corner if McCoy, how healthy is he? What does that look like? I think it's gonna be really important. I do like Ricky Gibson. I wish he was a little heavier. I think he had a really good year last year.

I think he'll take another step forward. But the McCoy return I think is a a really good year last year. I think he'll take another step forward but the McCoy return I think is a big is a big thing for Tennessee. How quickly do they get him back and how effective is he when he gets back? Yeah, I mean that's the thing when you have

two corners you trust and then you add add a boo Carter to the mix, you know, moving around like yeah, it's it just makes Tim Banks job so much easier in terms of calls and you don't have to worry about gambling at all. And so that and that's and that's how I feel about Tennessee River. Can you bring up the schedule because you know, I feel like Tennessee early in the season, we're going

to get a good look at. A chance for this offense to figure itself out. You know the Georgia game week threes are a tough one, but it's at home. And all the other games in the first half of the season are winnable. So, Brent, how do you see them kind of navigating through that Syracuse East Tennessee State into Georgia stretch? Well, I think offensively, you've got to find your identity. Now, you've got to win the Syracuse game.

And Syracuse lost a lot, but that's not a payday game in terms of, you're just paying somebody to come in and scrimmage. So, I mean, you got to be ready to figure that out. You've got to have answers for that. But I think you're just trying to get your offensive identity and who are you? Who's your quarterback?

What can you do with the receiver position? How big of a step can you take the first two weeks before Georgia comes to town? What does Georgia look like early in the year and all those types of deal? But I'm with you, if you take the Georgia game out of the equation, that the first half of that season looks like on paper, you get a chance to figure things out, right? I mean, you get Arkansas at home, which is good. Mississippi State, I don't know what state's going to be. That'll be an interesting just kind of see. Tennessee defense will be used to seeing that offense. That's one thing that you don't think

about, but. And it's at's one thing that you don't think about but yeah and it's at Mississippi State but I don't dislike the first six games of that schedule for Tennessee. Now, the back half of that schedule changes, you know, a lot but you know, you you get

what do you get five years first six? I mean, four year first six are at home and you got a neutral site. That's not a bad way to break in a new quarterback before you travel to the road. I mean, no offense to the fine folks at start the when you look at it. Again, I think you have to, you gotta find your offensive identity in the passing game as quickly as you can. It's gotta grow, but you gotta have some basis

of what you're gonna be there. And then you gotta kind of weather the storm defensively until you figure out exactly what you have in Jermod McCoy. Maybe the position group, nobody is talking about Andy with this defense, it's gonna be pretty interesting, is the safety spot, okay? Will Brooks was a great story last year because he's the walk on and he's this, but he was really productive.

He lined up Carter up a lot. Now you got Andre Turrentine who returns at safety and then who's the other guy? Is it Edwidge Farouk who's a big hitter in year two in the system? Is it Caleb Beasley who moved from corner to safety in the spring, who's really only played special teams? I mean, you're gonna be young at that other safety spot, which will be kind of, you gotta be careful.

You're gonna have to be cautious and maybe help that spot out a little bit. Because again, they became so good in the back end last year. They really, I don't know, underachieved is the right word. They were not as dynamic up front rushing the passers I thought they would be. Pierce was okay. They did not do what I thought they would do up front from a sack number standpoint and some of the things.

But they got away with it because they were really good in the back end. They're gonna have to be a little more tied in this year, the front from a sack number standpoint and some of the things but they got away with it because they're really good in the back end. They're going to have to be a little more tied in this year. I think defensively that front's going to have to help the back end

some you know and obviously the back end is going to have to to to settle in and and and play well but the front to me the front's got to be more productive than they were a season ago in terms of rushing the passer. So, let's

let's travel in time to the last Saturday in August. Atlanta Mercedes-Benz Stadium Syracuse versus Tennessee who takes the first snap at quarterback for the Vols. I think it's going to be Joey Aguilar. I do um and and and and

my reasoning for that is Joey Aguilar has been on the field and has played, um, he's played college football and I just, I think there's something to be said for having experience and I think when you have youth upfront, you know, I think he's got a little bit of a gunslinger mentality. He can run a little bit. I think he's got a little bit of a gunslinger mentality. He can run a little bit. I think he can probably play, I think he'll probably play pretty fast. Maybe too fast at times, but I think he can tuck and run and help himself that way.

I just feel like because of his experience on his resume, it's gonna be Joey Aguilar to take the first nap and play that open. And we'll see now if he doesn't play effectively, you know, we'll see. But again, if somebody's clearly the best quarterback in fall camp. Man, you got to play that guy or your locker room. Cause cause kids know who the best player is. They know who the best player is. And if you don't play the most effective player, it's not a popularity contest.

Okay. We can talk about NIL and the kids are selfish and they're just, they want to win. the most effective player. It's not a popularity contest. Okay, we can talk about NIL and the kids kids are selfish and they're just they want to win and they want to fill with the best players. There's not but I I think you were earlier. I

think that the politics are gone from this situation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean because because you're not way invested in somebody compared to somebody else like you know, you're going to go play your best football player. If George McIntyre comes out and is just throwing darts, you're playing him. Yeah, easy. Yeah. I mean, I mean, there is

no established packing order based on finances based on experience. I mean, this is you go play the guy who's the best in the month of August as who plays your first snap in Atlanta. My gut says that's gonna be Joey Aguilar, but he's gonna have to go earn it. I mean, this, and I will say this, Andy, and I know we're running out of time here.

I'll say this for Joey Aguilar. I do like the fact that he has just showed up, right? Like he's not done a bunch of interviews. He's not on Instagram. He's not on Twitter, anointing his arrival. You know what I mean? He didn't, there was no fanfare with him coming here. He's just here.

And I think that is a very smart play by him to win the locker room over. I think the last thing you wanna do is come in and say, hey, the white knight's here. I'm here to save the day. Instead, I'm here to go try to win a job. And I think that's a really good approach by Joey Aguilar and his people.

Whoever has advised him on doing that, I think it's a really smart move. Well, they got a good look at what not to do in the move that cost him his job at UCLA. So I think they, they probably took some notes. Well, I hope everybody has taken some notes here because this is awesome. Brent, thank you so much. And I, every one of these we do, I get more and more excited for this season. Like that game against Syracuse in Atlanta, I cannot wait. I cannot wait. So thank you so much. So much curiosity with this team. It's gonna be fun. Appreciate it, man.