Is the sky gradually clearing for Josh Heupel’s Tennessee? Most recently, news coming out of Knoxville’s Tennessee Volunteers has been about their former QB Nico Iamaleava. The Long Island native worked some wonders for Josh Heupel and Co. but made everyone lose hope once he started demanding reportedly $4M/year NIL contract renegotiation. When he missed the Spring Game and Heupel announced they are “Moving on” from the QB, many Orange and White fans’ hearts broke because their signal caller position just got way worse. And right then came the black clouds again. When Nico Iamaleava was leaving Tennessee, one of the points he made was about the weak offensive line. In fact, long before the entire Nico drama started, many analysts, including On3’s Ari Wasserman, brought up the point of “Receiver being the weakness for Tennessee.” And rightly so! 

Heupel couldn’t lock Mike Matthews then lost his star receiver, Squirrel White– who despite having a subpar 2024 season, did show his true skills in 2023 with 803 yards and 2 TDs. He also lost Chas Nimrod and Kaleb Webb before the season even ended. While they were earlier predicted to be the favorites for deep playoffs run entering 2025, they stood at a place to hardly even make it to the CFPs by April end. Clearly, Heupel had his work cut out for him– make the QB and receiver room better again. And very recently, he had done at least one of them.

While Nico would be transferring to UCLA, a gem from there decommitted to find his own chance at Knoxville– Joey Aguilar– all set to “build something special with my teammates and coaches.” The California native arrived from Appalachian State University and spent the Spring semester at UCLA before finding his home at Tennessee. But of course, he might have escaped competing against Nico for the starting QB job, he has Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre in Tennessee for the same. Now while the QB room seems stacked, Heupel was left with one more piece of the puzzle– the receiver room. But turns out more celebration awaits the Vols as they receive some big news on the recruiting trail. 

In the current landscape of college football, players follow a ‘no feelings are final’ motto. However, Heupel’s squad successfully won a Top-100 recruit’s heart. Back on October 31, Heupel and Co. got a verbal commitment to Tennessee from a local 5-star wide receiver, who lives “3-miutes away” and playing at Shields-Watkins Field has “been a dream,” out of Knoxville Catholic– Tyreek King. So far for the 2026 class, Tennessee is largely flying under the radar. They have only seven commitments to date. And now, they can add King’s name to the squad too.

On May 12, Hayes Fawcett made a post on Instagram. The caption read, “BREAKING: Tennessee WR commit Tyreek King has shut down his recruitment 🍊.” He further mentioned, “King will not take any visits elsewhere, only to Tennessee.” Now, this must be music to Heupel’s ears. And what did the young chap say about closing his commitment? “I’ve been knowing where home was from the beginning. Tennessee’s culture is something I want to be a part of. Best fit for me & knowing I’m for sure gonna develop, no place like the VOLS, BEEN HOME!!!”

The 5-foot-11, 170-pounder King walks in with a resume of 49 passes for 1,062 yards with 14 touchdowns and had some great words to say about the Vols back in October 2024 when he gave them his commitment.

Back then, Tyreek chose Tennessee over powerful programs like Alabama, Texas A&M, and more because he believed, “Tennessee has always been a dream of mine ever since my first game going there. It’s been a dream since I was little to play in that stadium. I live three minutes away so it isn’t far at all. I chose Tennessee because coach Heupel and coach Pope. They develop great players. The environment there is crazy. I chose Tennessee for a lot of good reasons.”

But while the WR brings incredible body control and might make toughest catches look routine, what he truly loved about the Vols was their WR coach Kelsey Pope. “He talked to me and told me I’m his #1 priority. He tells me every time he sees me, ‘I want you Reek. What you waiting on?’ Coach Pope is a great guy. I trust him and all the receivers there are getting developed and being great.”

While the recruiting trail looks sorted for Heupel, he needs to get clarity, ASAP, in some other aspect.

Can Joey Aguilar be Josh Heupel’s game changer?

Just when UCLA found their newest member, Iamaleava, they lost one of their most promising player, Aguilar, who chose to be part of the Vols. On April 29, he declared his commitment and used some powerful statements to bring Heupel into his confidence. In his commitment message, Aguilar wrote, “I’m looking forward to being a part of the traditions, the fans, and the legacy of winning at Tennessee. I’m ready to get to work, compete at the highest level and build something special with my teammates and coaches. I can’t wait to get to Rocky Top! I’m ready to Give My All for Tennessee.”

Aguilar left UCLA with some high expectations, as a possible backup in case of injury. But, he is ready to take any challenge that comes his way and to go to great lengths to get the QB1 spot in Heupel’s squad. However, it’s not going to be a smooth ride for him. Aguilar’s got a cannon for an arm and can light up the scoreboard, but he also has a little bit of a turnover bug. His stats show the quarterback threw 23 touchdowns but also watched his interception totals creep higher.

On that note, Josh Heupel must still not be 100% sure about his new quarterback. On the Locked on College Football podcast, Spencer McLaughlin had a question for Eric Cain. He asked, “Can Joey Aguilar or whoever winds up starting for Josh Heupel this year game manage his way to get Tennessee back into the playoffs?” To which Cain replied, “[Joey] He’s just got to protect the football. He turned the football over a ton this past year, he had a record-setting year in 2023 with App State school records and all that.”

So, is Heupel risking it all—and setting himself up for regret—by letting Nico slip away or will he find the confidence in his latest recruits for the 2025, Aguilar, and 2026 class, Tyreek King?