Key Tennessee Vols player appears to have a quarterback preference for the 2025 season

When the month of April started, there was no question that Nico Iamaleava would be the Tennessee Vols' starting quarterback in 2025. 

But after a wild couple of days before UT's spring game that saw Iamaleava and the Vols part ways, Tennessee will now have a legitimate quarterback battle this summer/fall between redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, true freshman George MacIntyre, and UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar. 

Vols sophomore defensive back/wide receiver Boo Carter is poised to be one of Tennessee's most important players in 2025 as he's expected to receive some time on offense due to his electric ability with the ball in his hands. 

Carter joined SportTalk Chattanooga last week and he seemed to indicate that he's hoping to see Merklinger win the starting quarterback job this fall. 

"I think they're (MacIntyre and Merklinger) ready," said Carter. "Jake's ready. He's already got a year under his belt [after playing] behind Nico. I feel like he feels confident. He's trying to get the boys together, all the receivers together. He's gotta compete with the new transfer (Aguilar) coming in, but hopefully my boy Jake gets the job done. George, he be getting right. He's a freshman quarterback, he's pretty long, lengthy. He can throw it and run, so I feel like he's going to be a good pick in a couple of years, the next year or two." 

Aguilar hasn't made it to campus yet, so it's far too early to know how this quarterback battle will play out. However, it's certainly reasonable to suggest that Merklinger is the favorite because of his year of experience in Josh Heupel's offense. 

Regardless of who is under center, there's no doubt that Carter will be a dog on the field on the both sides of the ball in 2025.