The reaction of Tennessee's players after second fall scrimmage tells Vols fans all they need to know about starting QB Joey Aguilar

The Tennessee Vols officially named UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar as the program's starting quarterback earlier this week.

Aguilar beat out redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre for the job.

The expectation was always that Aguilar would win the job, but it was far from certain that he would, as the California native had only been on campus for a couple of months before the start of fall camp.

Aguilar had to learn the offense, earn his teammates’ trust, and build chemistry, all in just a few months’ time.

Speaking of Aguilar's teammates, they certainly seemed to be impressed by the former UCLA quarterback's performance last week in Tennessee's second fall scrimmage.

VolQuest’s Austin Price joined 104.5 The Zone’s Ramon and Will on Tuesday and revealed that multiple Tennessee players walked out of the complex after the scrimmage excited by what they saw from Aguilar.

"The last scrimmage, I think, really put him over the edge because he was able to functionally run the offense at the pace they want," said Price. "And (Brent) Hubbs and I were standing outside the complex, and there's multiple players that walked outside the complex, either talking to each other or talking on the phone to people -- talking about how impressive Joey was in the scrimmage and just how the pacing of the offense was crisp.

"He performed really, really well. He threw the ball extremely well. And it was already heading that way (Aguilar winning the job) anyways, but I think that just solidified it with how he performed last Friday in the final scrimmage. Especially when you factor in that he wasn't playing with his full complement of weapons -- none of the quarterbacks were -- and he was able to perform at a high level."

"I do think the team really likes Joey a lot," added Price. "And I think that's kind of where you got to in this process was they loved how he kind of came in, he put his head down, he went to work. I mean, he's not really done many interviews. He's just kind of been learning the team, the coaches, the program, the city, everything, and just enjoying being here. And I think that's probably the biggest thing is he just kind of went about things the right way, and went about things as a mature kid."

It sounds like Aguilar has been everything that Tennessee hoped he would be -- at least so far. Learning the offense and winning over the team is no small feat. It's impressive that Aguilar walked into that situation and handled it flawlessly.

Aguilar won the job, but that's really just the start of the journey for him and the Vols. Things get real on August 30 when Tennessee kicks off the season against Syracuse.