Tennessee Vols OC Joey Halzle pushes back on negative narrative UCLA coach Deshaun Foster created about QB Joey Aguilar

Tennessee Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle indirectly pushed back on the negative narrative that UCLA Bruins head coach Deshaun Foster recently pushed about UT quarterback Joey Aguilar.

Aguilar, who spent the past two seasons at Appalachian State, went through spring practice with UCLA before transferring to Tennessee following Nico Iamaleava’s departure from the Vols to join the Bruins.

According to The Athletic's Bruce Feldman, part of the reason UCLA was eager to add Iamaleava, despite having Aguilar on the roster, was because Foster wasn't sold on Aguilar's "film study habits".

"UCLA had brought in Appalachian State transfer QB Joey Aguilar last winter in hopes he could spark the offense, but halfway through spring, Foster wasn’t sold on his quarterback’s connection to the receivers and his film study habits," wrote Feldman last week. 

Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle was asked Tuesday about Aguilar's film study habits, and he presented a much different picture of the quarterback than the one painted by Foster.

"Joey's been high-end at that since he's gotten here, ever since he got here in late May," said Halzle. "He didn't start by starting where everyone else was. He went back and did every single spring install that our entire team went through.

"He did that on his own in about four days, embraced it really well, and went out and walked through it all on the field at a high level. He's been going through summer ball the same exact way, so there hasn't been any falloff there."

Maybe Foster was just trying to justify his decision to add Iamaleava to UCLA's roster. Or maybe he had some real concerns about Aguilar's film study habits.

Either way, it's clear that Tennessee doesn't share the same concerns about Aguilar.

Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre will battle for the Vols' starting quarterback job during fall camp over the next month.