Joey Aguilar describes process of building trust with Tennessee teammates
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Joey Aguilar has gone through a lot in the past six months, and developing trust with his new teammates is just the latest challenge Tennessee‘s starting quarterback has had to overcome.
But according to many of Aguilar’s peers, connecting with him came naturally due to the California-native’s approachable demeanor.
“I grew up working for everything that I got,” Aguilar said. “My dad and mom always told me to be grateful for everything that I have, so I know that trust takes time to build. You can’t force somebody to trust you.”
After throwing for 6,760 yards, rushing for 452 more and accounting for 61 total touchdowns over 2 seasons with Appalachian State, Aguilar is bringing his skills and mindset to the SEC.
“I’m a nonchalant kind of guy, so I just slowly connect with people,” Aguilar said. “And I want to have a conversation with everybody. You have to build trust with every person on your team, whether they play or not.”
Aguilar was named the starting quarterback for the Vols two days ago, which comes after he transferred to UCLA earlier in the offseason and proceeded to virtually switch places with former UT signal-caller Nico Iamaleava in April.
Now at the helm of an SEC offense, Aguilar will lead the Volunteers when they open their campaign against Fran Brown’s Syracuse squad on Aug. 30 in Atlanta.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
