![]() Aguilar with the Tennessee Volunteers in 2025 | |
Tennessee Volunteers–No. 6 | |
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Position | Quarterback |
Class | ![]() |
Personal information | |
Born: | Antioch, California, U.S. | June 16, 2001
Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
Weight | 225 lb (102 kg) |
Career history | |
College |
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High school | Freedom (Oakley, California) |
Career highlights and awards | |
Joseph Aguilar (born June 16, 2001) is an American football quarterback who plays for the Tennessee Volunteers. He previously played for the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Diablo Valley Vikings.
Aguilar attended Freedom High School, where he completed 336 of 552 pass attempts for 5,575 yards and 59 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. He also rushed for 151 yards and four touchdowns. [1] Aguilar enrolled to play college football at City College of San Francisco. [2] [3]
With no offers coming out of high school, Aguilar enrolled at the City College of San Francisco and redshirted as a true freshman in 2019. [3] He transfered to Diablo Valley College ahead of the 2020 season.
Upon transferring to Diablo Valley, Aguilar did not get the opportunity to play in 2020, as the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [4] Going into 2021, Dylan Graham was named the starting quarterback for the team. Aguilar competed with him in the first five games of the season, eventually beating out Graham for the starting role. Aguilar made his first start for the team in week 6 against Laney, leading the team to win by the score of 54–29. [5] He remained the starter for the rest of the season, finishing with a record of 3–2.
In 2022, Graham had transferred out of Diablo Valley to the University of Texas Permian Basin, leaving Aguilar with the starting job. [3] Aguilar played in the first two games of the season, however an injury sidelined him for a month. After missing three games, Aguilar returned to play in October against Chabot, winning with a score of 33–17. At Diablo Valley, Aguilar completed 228 of 379 passing attempts for 2,992 yards and 21 touchdowns with ten interceptions and rushed for 619 yards and two touchdowns, while also hauling in one reception. [6]
For his junior year, Aguilar committed to playing Division I college football at Appalachian State University. [7] [8] He was named backup quarterback behind Ryan Burger. [9] However, in week one, after Burger went down with an injury, Aguilar came in for relief, where he completed 11 of his 13 passes for 174 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Gardner-Webb. [10] He was named the starting quarterback for their week 2 matchup versus North Carolina. [11] In his first start against North Carolina, Aguilar went 22 for 43 passing for 275 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in a loss. [12] In week 3, Aguilar completed 17 of 29 passing attempts for 241 yards and three touchdowns with an interception, while also adding a touchdown on the ground in a win over East Carolina. [13] In week 5, Aguilar went 27 for 39 for 335 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions, as he helped the Mountaineers beat Louisiana-Monroe 41–40. [14]
Aguilar holds multiple single season passing records and ranks among the program’s top 10 in several career passing categories, despite playing only two seasons. In 2023, he set school records with 3,757 passing yards and 33 touchdowns. His 2024 totals rank sixth all-time in passing yards and tied for ninth in passing touchdowns. Aguilar passed for 424 yards in a 2024 game against East Carolina University, marking the third-highest single-game total in program history. [15]
On December 28, 2024, Aguilar decided to transfer to UCLA. [16] Following Nico Iamaleava's transfer to UCLA, Aguilar decided to transfer to Tennessee. [17] [18] Upon Aguilar's arrival, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel stated that there would be open competition at the quarterback position between Aguilar, Jake Merklinger, and George MacIntyre. [19] On August 17, 2025, Aguilar was named the starter going into the week 1 game against Syracuse. [20] In his debut for Tennessee, Aguilar threw for 247 yards and 3 touchdowns, beating Syracuse with a score of 45–26. [21]
Season | Team | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
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GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Y/A | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | ||
2019 | CCSF | ![]() | ||||||||||||||
2020 | Diablo Valley | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||||||||||
2021 | Diablo Valley | 10 | 5 | 3–2 | 102 | 182 | 56.0 | 1,546 | 8.5 | 13 | 6 | 144.4 | 52 | 261 | 5.02 | 2 |
2022 | Diablo Valley | 6 | 6 | 4–2 | 126 | 197 | 64.0 | 1,446 | 7.3 | 8 | 4 | 135.0 | 65 | 358 | 5.51 | 0 |
2023 | Appalachian State | 14 | 13 | 8–5 | 293 | 460 | 63.7 | 3,757 | 8.2 | 33 | 10 | 151.6 | 81 | 245 | 3.0 | 3 |
2024 | Appalachian State | 11 | 11 | 5–6 | 218 | 390 | 55.8 | 3,003 | 7.7 | 23 | 14 | 132.5 | 59 | 207 | 3.5 | 2 |
2025 | Tennessee | 1 | 1 | 1–0 | 16 | 28 | 57.1 | 247 | 8.8 | 3 | 0 | 166.6 | 6 | 34 | 5.7 | 0 |
CCCAA career [22] | 16 | 11 | 7–4 | 228 | 379 | 60.2 | 2,992 | 7.9 | 21 | 10 | 139.5 | 117 | 619 | 5.27 | 2 | |
Career [6] [23] | 26 | 25 | 14−11 | 527 | 878 | 60.0 | 7,007 | 8.0 | 59 | 24 | 143.8 | 146 | 486 | 3.3 | 5 |