KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Aspiring firefighter Joey Aguilar threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns — all in the first half — to lead No. 22 Tennessee to a 72-17 romp over East Tennessee State on Saturday.
The Volunteers (2-0), tuning up for next week’s Southeastern Conference showdown with No. 4 Georgia, got help from Star Thomas, who added 69 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Chris Brazzell III and Mike Matthews combined for 236 receiving yards and three touchdowns, giving Tennessee a balanced, explosive offensive showing.
Aguilar’s performance was an evolution of a pattern we first saw at Appalachian State last year, where he throttled ETSU in that home opener. The difference between then and now: about 160 miles and a record-shattering upgrade to Aguilar’s surroundings.
The Vols racked up 734 yards of total offense, and while ETSU isn’t exactly Georgia, the numbers were staggering. In Aguilar’s Neyland Stadium debut, the offense surpassed their previous modern-day best (since 1937) point total of 71, set last year by the Iamaleava-led offense against Kent State. On top of that, Aguilar led the team to a record number of first downs, finishing with 41 and generating 717 yards of total offense to the Buccaneers’ 216, while marking the fifth time in modern history Tennessee has surpassed 700 yards, including four times under the Heupel regime.
And for those with concerns about Aguilar returning Tennessee to the historically crippling tempo of Heupel’s veer-and-shoot offense, Joey’s Vols are already snapping at 22.5 seconds per play, which ranks sixth nationally. The offense has steadily slowed since Heupel’s first year, where the Vols finished first nationally at an average of 19.2 seconds per play. The team hit its slowest average last season under Iamaleava, at 23.8 seconds and a ranking of 21st. To operate under a new quarterback (who didn’t have a spring to learn) and a new center and already hit those numbers should excite fans. It’s more proof of Aguilar’s fit under center in Knoxville, and perhaps that Tennessee was the winner of the Aguilar/Iamaleava “trade,” which currently has UCLA at 0-2, including an old-fashioned whoopin’ from Utah.
A Note on Tempo: Now that teams will allegedly be forced to take a timeout for suspect (we won’t say obviously fake) injuries, the effectiveness of Heupel’s tempo should return to great effect in coming weeks. This rule was clearly not active against Syracuse, who sustained a mysterious simultaneous injury to two defensive backs in Week 1 to slow Tennessee’s tempo. These fake injuries have been a major player in close losses at Tennessee under Heupel, most notably Ole Miss’s eighteen injury stoppages in the controversial 2021 “Mustard Bowl” game in Knoxville.
Aguilar’s poise contrasted sharply with backups Merklinger and McIntyre, exposing a sharp drop-off at quarterback (against what we were told was a very tight competition in camp). This is another way the Vols are strikingly dissimilar to the team many expected coming out of camp. Drop-off aside, true freshman George McIntyre looked clearly like he should sit at No. 2 on the depth chart. He’s not on Aguilar’s level, but he exhibited a smooth, comfortable operation of Heupel’s system and an as-advertised touch and strength in his passing.
If you get into this kind of thing, Aguilar (56 snaps) was rated by PFF (a site where stat junkies go to get high every Sunday) at 94.2 out of 100, which is considered Elite. While Tennessee graded fairly well across the board, Joey was joined in the Elite realm by edge rusher Jordan Ross (92.5), defensive tackle Tyre West (91.5), and offensive lineman Jesse Perry (91). As the Vols continue to wonder about backup options along the OL, redshirt freshman Max Anderson had a great day, rating an 82.1 (considered starter quality) on 45 snaps. It was against ETSU, of course, but you still have to go out there and keep up.
Strong and Thin in 2025
If there are any rooms that did live up to their preseason billing, the running back, tight end and wideout personnel seem to be right where we thought, with the backs dominating both games to this point. The committee approach tends to fade as the season sets in, but for now, the balance of Desean Bishop’s speed, Star Thomas’s Kamara-esque footwork and Peyton Lewis’s raw power has been a clear problem for both Syracuse and ETSU. Tennessee has accounted for 505 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground in the first two games.
The receiving corps was billed in the offseason as a group lacking experience, besides transfer Chris Brazzell, who was active in 2024, and generally lacking quality depth. Through two games, the results have been that: frustrating drops here and there and a general sense of a learning group, but even still, the group has been successful in vivid ways. In two games, the top pass catchers have all delivered when they need to, with Brazzell (187 yards, 2 TD), sophomore Mike Matthews (140 yards, TD) and freshman Braylon Staley (134 yards, TD) flashing so far. Staley’s 73-yard reception in the Syracuse game remains one of the longest in the nation as of today.
The tight ends, while top-heavy with Miles Kitselman taking a large portion of the snaps and targets, seem to be on schedule, with the workload spreading between Kitselman, Ethan Davis and the younger tight ends Brame and Van Dorselaer. Still, Tennessee will want to see Davis, who was great as a freshman, make a meaningful leap over the next few games, as he’s seemed to still be finding himself. Like so many position groups, this situation feels simultaneously strong and weak, deep and thin.
The offensive line has gotten surprisingly solid outings from an extremely new group, including the surprise two-game starter Sham Umarov (a massive man fans should be calling Shamu), as the team waits for David Sanders Jr. to recover from a shoulder stinger. Again, though, this is a team that’s going to need to get Sanders on the field quickly to preserve quality depth from Umarov. Still, UGA would be an incredible ask as a first game for the vaunted freshman Sanders Jr., who came to Tennessee this year as one of the all-time highest-ranked recruits but was a late scratch against Syracuse.
The defensive picture is similarly paradoxical. Tennessee’s defensive line, once billed as a position of potentially increased strength, is paper-thin after injuries incurred preseason and in Game 1 against Syracuse. Jaxon Moi, a fierce defensive tackle poised for a big 2025 before an elbow injury against Syracuse, is expected back for the Georgia game. Even with Moi, and emergent Nathan Robinson who has been a surprise strength in the first two games, the line feels stretched and a bit fragile. Rodney Garner has gotten so much power out of this group under Heupel, and we won’t be surprised to see him get whoever is healthy enough ready to go step on necks, but it’d be nice to see this room at full power, similar to 2024, at some point.
The big positive surprise so far: the Tennessee secondary leaned on second-string corners in both games due to a Game 1 injury to Ricky Gibson III and preseason All-American Jermod McCoy yet to return from a January ACL tear. Colorado transfer Colton Hood has asserted himself on the national scene with five pass break-ups (tied for first nationally) and a touchdown through two games. Across the field, freshman Ty Redmond has made good on accolades from camp by stepping in and showing neither his age nor his inexperience. The combination of Gibson III and McCoy has been billed as one of the best CB tandems in the sport, so the lack of drop-off with Hood and Redmond is great news. Still, you’ll want McCoy on the field sooner than later, as SEC competition cranks up. The expectation is for him to return around the Sept. 20 dust-up with UAB in Knoxville, but it could be longer, as they’re surely being careful not to compromise his recovery. Many project him as a first-rounder in the 2027 NFL Draft.
This group has had some of their homework done for them by Jalen McMurray, who has been playing lights-out at Star thus far, often the best player on the field. Also quiet so far in the secondary has been redshirt senior Andre Turrentine, and when you aren’t hearing a safety’s name, that means he’s doing just what you want him to do.
The linebacker room looks, as advertised, very strong (if top-heavy), led by Arion Carter, Jeremiah Telander and the long-hyped debut of Edwin Spillman, who coaches promised we’d “know his name.” A skeleton-rattling sack against Syracuse was quite the arrival for him. This trio looks very settled in and aggressive in both games so far, joined by defensive ends Joshua Josephs and Jordan Ross, who look poised for violent and effective years in the wake of NFL-departed James Pearce Jr. The edge rushers and linebackers will have their hands full with stiffer SEC talent, especially if they continue sharing so much of the load left by the situations at tackle and corner.
Another positive turn in the rout of ETSU was the long-awaited flash from Boo Carter, the polarizing would-be, could-be star of the team, it seems, if he would lock in and turn down personal melodrama. On Saturday afternoon, a pair of punt returns finally showed a bit of the reason coaches are so patient with him. When the ETSU punt squad (foolishly) kicked to him, he was, to put it mildly, extremely difficult to tackle. Fans will continue to hope for the three-way player Carter could be, now that there’s been a peek at his electrifying physical ability.
The takeaway: Through two games, Tennessee’s offense sits second nationally in yards per game and the defense sits top 20 against the run. It’s hard to scrutinize too much, yet this is absolutely a team of contrasts. They look, in the same glance, like a playoff contender with a ceiling higher than expected and a team that still seems to be revealing its identity. The Vols are capable of dominating lesser opponents, and Aguilar’s mastery is central to that. But the tightrope is long, and the SEC is coming.
Tennessee was rewarded for a powerful two-game statement with a major leap in the AP poll for Week 3, moving from 22 to 15, while the Coaches Poll, which has been more enthusiastic about the Vols, nudged them from 17 to 15. Initially underrated by many pollsters, Tennessee seems to have reestablished itself nationally, just in time for its SEC opener — an always high-stakes showdown when Georgia visits Knoxville next week, Sept. 13 in front of ESPN’s College Gameday festivities.
