Joey Aguilar’s fight against NCAA eligibility rules will include the viewpoint of Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel.
On Feb. 4, Aguilar’s attorney, Cam Norris, filed a brief in which Heupel declares his support of a preliminary injunction that could make his quarterback eligible to play in the 2026 season.
“UT would love to have Aguilar back for the upcoming 2026 season,” Heupel says in the declaration brief. “But UT needs to know whether he will be eligible. It is essential for Joey, his coaches and teammates, and for UT to all know the status of his eligibility as soon as possible.”
A Knoxville judge granted Aguilar a temporary restraining order against NCAA eligibility rules, serving as the first step toward his potential return for the Vols in the 2026 season. Chancellor Christopher Heagerty, a two-time UT graduate, issued the order in Knox County Chancery Court
The next step for Aguilar is a preliminary injunction hearing on Feb. 6. Heupel declared himself available to testify on Aguilar’s behalf, if needed.
“This declaration is based on my own personal knowledge, which is the product of my experience as a high school and college athlete, my twenty years of coaching experience, my work with thousands of athletes, and my specific role at UT, where I oversee all aspects of the college football program,” Heupel says in the brief.
“If called to do so, I could testify competently to these facts under oath.”
Why Josh Heupel is supporting Joey Aguilar legal battle
Heupel’s self interests are undeniable.
In 2025, Aguilar led the SEC with 3,565 passing yards, the third most in a single season in UT history, along with 24 TD passes. If Aguilar returned in 2026, the Vols presumably would be a stronger team against a challenging schedule.
But Heupel also needs to know his options at quarterback. In the brief, he mentions the importance of Aguilar being available in spring practice, which starts March 16.
Tennessee failed to land a premier starting quarterback in the transfer portal. If Aguilar remains ineligible, redshirt freshman George MacIntyre, five-star freshman Faizon Brandon and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub will compete for the starting job in the 2026 season.
According to Aguilar’s complaint, UT has a spot available for him the 2026 roster for Aguilar, as well as access to “approximately $2 million” in NIL money for the quarterback.
Aguilar is already enrolled at Tennessee, a UT spokesperson told Knox News on Feb. 4, which could streamline his return to the field if he regains his eligibility. Aguilar underwent surgery on Jan. 2 to remove a benign tumor on his arm. According to his court filing, he expects to be fully recovered soon, perhaps in late February.
Heupel also has a valuable perspective on Aguilar’s argument. Heupel was a junior college player before transferring to Oklahoma, where he became a Heisman Trophy runner-up and national champion quarterback in 2000. Of course, that was many years before NIL and the transfer portal came into the picture.
“I am familiar with the NCAA’s eligibility rules, including NCAA Bylaws that restrict the duration of a student-athlete’s eligibility to compete for four seasons within a five-year period and the ‘counting’ of time spent at junior colleges, which are non-NCAA institutions, toward the total eligibility time,” Heupel said in the brief.
Why it matters that Aguilar played only three NCAA seasons
Aguilar, 24, has spent seven years in college football, but only three seasons at NCAA member schools. That’s why he is challenging the NCAA eligibility rules regarding junior college players.
The NCAA allows players to compete for four seasons within five years. And it counts junior college seasons toward that total and time period even though junior colleges are not part of the NCAA.
Numerous lawsuits around the country seek to change the NCAA’s eligibility rules so junior college competition wouldn’t factor into NCAA seasons of eligibility or an athlete’s eligibility clock. Only seasons at an NCAA institution would count as part of NCAA eligibility, giving Aguilar one more season to play.
In 2019, Aguilar redshirted at City College of San Francisco. In 2020, the COVID pandemic canceled his junior college season there. In 2021-22, he played two junior college seasons at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California.
His NCAA career began in 2023 when he played at Appalachian State. He transferred to UCLA for spring 2025, and then transferred to Tennessee in essentially a quarterback swap involving Nico Iamaleava.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel joins Joey Aguilar eligibility fight vs NCAA
