Former Vols OC David Cutcliffe shares his opinion on how Josh Heupel has taught Joey Aguilar to play QB at Tennessee

Tennessee Vols quarterback Joey Aguilar has quickly acclimated to Josh Heupel's offense, passing for 1,459 yards and 13 touchdowns in the first five games of the season.

Not bad for a guy who was planning to suit up for the UCLA Bruins this fall just a few short months ago.

One of the big questions that folks in the media had about the Vols in 2025 was how quickly Aguilar would be able to pick up the offense.

It's safe to say that question has been answered with the way Aguilar has performed so far.

Former Vols OC David Cutcliffe shares his opinion on how Joey Aguilar has fit into Tennessee's offense

Former Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe joined The George Plaster Show this week, and he was asked about his thoughts on the way Aguilar has seamlessly fit into Heupel's offense.

Cutcliffe credited the strong offensive system that Heupel has installed at Tennessee as the top reason why Aguilar has been able to quickly find success on Rocky Top.

"They are a very systematic offense," said Cutcliffe. "You got a coach (Heupel) that played that position, and I coached against him as a quarterback. They were very systematic on offense. We beat them in a bowl game* right before they just ran the table and won a national championship, and it was predictable. I think [Heupel] understands what you have to do, and know, to be successful as a quarterback.

"The young man (Aguilar) came in there hungry. I watched them practice as well. I thought things were positive around him. If he made a mistake, it was still positive. It wasn't dressing him down. I think it's just a really good job of a hungry player and a system that is taught as a system. When you're not memorizing things, you can play the game. You got to understand the system. It's no different than if I'm a quarterback, I've got to learn that there's a system in how we look at defenses, and I know Josh Heupel does that. So you don't just look within your own offense and learn your own offense. You've got to learn to verbalize what you're seeing in the secondary, what you're seeing up front, and you got to be very systematic about how you teach both."

*Cutcliffe led Ole Miss to a win over Josh Heupel and the Oklahoma Sooners in the 1999 Independence Bowl. Heupel and the Sooners won the national championship a year later.

Cutcliffe is as good as it gets when it comes to coaching the quarterback position. And it certainly sounds like he approves of the way Heupel is teaching the position at Tennessee.

Heupel doesn't need any endorsements -- his success speaks for itself. But getting an endorsement from Cutcliffe is certainly never a bad thing.

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