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Tennessee could save more than $1 million on Joey Aguilar deal, per reports
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Tennessee is expected to save significant money as it replaces Nico Iamaleava with Joey Aguilar for the 2025 season, according to a report.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Aguilar was expected to make $1.2 million at UCLA for the 2025 season. Now after agreeing to a deal with the Vols, Thamel reports Aguilar will make “close” to that $1.2 million to play in Knoxville.
Here’s where the savings come in: Yahoo!’s Ross Dellenger reports that Iamaleava was scheduled to make $2.4 million from Tennessee in 2025 before the sides parted ways earlier this month.
That reporting suggests Tennessee could be saving as much as $1.2 million in NIL funds by making the switch from Iamaleava to Aguilar. However, exact figures are not yet known and may not be publicly-confirmed in the near future.
It will be interesting to see if Tennessee choses to re-invest those savings into other positions for its 2025 roster or it if it will bank the extra cash until next offseason. So far this year, the Vols have not been particularly aggressive in the transfer portal despite losing multiple key starters off of last year’s team. Aguilar is the 5th transfer to commit to Josh Heupel and the Vols so far this offseason.
Iamaleava’s compensation at UCLA is also not yet known, but Dellenger reports it’s expected to be less than the $2.4 million he was set to make had he remained at Tennessee.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
