{"id":445755,"date":"2026-02-03T02:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445755\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T02:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T02:50:07","slug":"joey-aguilar-has-2026-roster-spot-at-tennessee-lawsuit-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/445755\/","title":{"rendered":"Joey Aguilar has 2026 roster spot at Tennessee, lawsuit states"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tennessee football<\/a> has a roster spot and NIL money in place for quarterback Joey Aguilar<\/a> to return to the Vols, should Aguilar be awarded another season of eligibility in his lawsuit against the NCAA.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Knox County Chancery Court, according to documents obtained by On3<\/a>\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this Court grants Aguilar relief from the NCAA\u2019s JUCO rule in the near term,\u201d the complaint read, \u201cTennessee has a spot for him on the roster and would welcome him back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis compensation for playing college football in 2026 would be approximately $2 million. So by counting his JUCO years against him, the NCAA is depriving Aguilar of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aguilar is seeking an emergency temporary restraining order against the NCAA, with the complaint explaining the need for an immediate answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAguilar needs relief now to know whether he should report to spring practice or prepare for the NFL draft,\u201d the lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n

Aguilar has played only three years of Division I college football, spending two seasons at Appalachian State before transferring to Tennessee last April. He played two seasons at Diablo Community College in California, in 2021 and 2022, before beginning his NCAA career.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit noted Aguilar\u2019s season with the Vols as the only time he has been able to earn \u201csignificant money\u201d playing football, making more than $1 million from the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2025 season also marked the first time that Aguilar earned significant money for playing football,\u201d the lawsuit stated. \u201cFrom 2019 to 2023, he earned nothing. But in one season at Tennessee, Aguilar earned over $1 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aguilar threw for 3,565 yards and 24 touchdowns in 13 games as Tennessee\u2019s starting quarterback.\u00a0The Vols are currently set to enter the 2026 season with redshirt freshman George MacIntyre<\/a>, freshman Faizon Brandon<\/a> and Colorado transfer Ryan Staub<\/a> as its options at quarterback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Aguilar would be immediately viewed as the starting quarterback for Tennessee in 2026 should he be given another season of eligibility. The complaint argued the lack of such guarantees in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other, less quantifiable, and irreparable harms to Aguilar\u2019s career are substantial as well,\u201d the lawsuit argued. \u201cThe NFL is never a guarantee for any college football player. And whether and when a player is drafted is crucial: It can mean the difference between a contract worth tens of millions of dollars, a contract for the league minimum ($840,000), or the end of a player\u2019s ability to earn money from his athletic talents altogether.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA fourth full season would let Aguilar bolster his resume for the NFL and substantially raise his draft stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aguilar underwent surgery in early January to remove a benign tumor from his arm. NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport reported at the time that Aguilar played through pain last season with the tumor \u201cpushing on his biceps tendon and labrum, causing weakness and pain,\u201d adding that the recovery time was expected to be eight weeks.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit reported that Aguilar \u201cexpects to make a full recovery soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAguilar accomplished what he did for Tennessee in 2025 despite playing hurt for most of the season,\u201d the complaint read. \u201cThough he did not disclose his injury until after the season ended, Aguilar played with a benign tumor on his arm, which caused him substantial pain and weakened his throwing strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joey Aguilar given voluntary dismissal as plaintiff in Diego Pavia lawsuit<\/p>\n

Aguilar was previously one of 26 plaintiffs that were added to the Diego Pavia<\/a> lawsuit, which last year won the Vanderbilt quarterback another season of eligibility because of his JUCO past. It was reported last week that Aguilar has been granted a voluntary dismissal as a plaintiff in the Pavia lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also hired his own representation for the new lawsuit against the NCAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeft watching the clock run out on his last opportunity to play college football and earn substantial compensation for it, and with new counsel, Aguilar voluntarily dismissed himself from the Pavia lawsuit on January 29, 2026,\u201d the lawsuit stated. \u201cHe now seeks to vindicate his rights in this Court. As quickly as possible, he will ask this Court for emergency relief and a hearing on whether the NCAA can use its JUCO rule to ban him from playing college football in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit argues, like others have before, that junior college football is not part of the NCAA and should not be counted against NCAA eligibility, claiming the NCAA denying eligibility is a violation of antitrust laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a breakout season as the Volunteers\u2019 quarterback in 2025, the NCAA is blocking Aguilar from playing a fourth year of Division I football, depriving Tennessee of a gifted quarterback and robbing Aguilar of millions in compensation,\u201d the complaint read. \u201c \u2026 As courts across the country have recognized, this arbitrary and anticompetitive behavior against former JUCO athletes by the entity that has a monopoly on college sports is illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee football has a roster spot and NIL money in place for quarterback Joey Aguilar to return to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,4504,99],"class_list":["post-445755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-regwall","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}