Tennessee has a chance to land funniest Nico Iamaleava replacement imaginable

With Nico Iamaleava transferring to the UCLA Bruins, the Tennessee Volunteers are in dire need of a new starting quarterback. They may have plans down the line for how to rectify this, but losing Iamaleava this late into the offseason certainly compromises the team's chances of getting back into the College Football Playoff.

So with Iamaleava going to UCLA for supposedly less than half the money he was slated to make from Tennessee, what are the Volunteers to do? I argued that Tennessee may be a great landing spot for former Notre Dame quarterback Steve Angeli, who seemingly conceded the starting job to CJ Carr after the Fighting Irish's spring game. But now, I will present to you the funniest option possible to be had.

Former UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar is reportedly slated to enter the transfer portal to make room for Iamaleava. But what if the Bruins and Vols swapped signal-callers? Aguilar has yet to play a down for the Bruins, but did have a proven track record of success in two years as the starter for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. In a way, I think he could work well in Josh Heupel's offense in Knoxville. How much will he get paid to come to town?

It would be so hilarious is Tennessee made it back to the playoff with Aguilar for only half of the price.

Keep in mind that Tennessee has one of the most manageable schedules in the SEC for the upcoming season.

Tennessee can replace Nico Iamaleava with the UCLA guy he is replacing

We see this every so often in sports. A coach at one job takes a position on another team, and the guy who he is replacing backfills the job the other coach vacated to in turn take his former job. No, we do not need to tie our brains into a Dan Wetzel pretzel. Let's kiss it by keeping it simple, stupid, and just moving on. Aguilar might be exactly what Tennessee needs to keep this program on track.

What Aguilar provides that other quarterbacks in the spring transfer portal do not is ample starting experience. That experience may be at the Group of Five level, but playing well at Appalachian State is nothing to sneeze at. For as much fame and notoriety as Iamaleava has garnered, justified or not, he only has one year's worth of starts under his belt. Aguilar has double that in his college career.

To put it kindly, I wonder if Aguilar has the cachet to replace a quarterback like Iamaleava this season at a place like Tennessee. I would not rule out him potentially having success in Knoxville, but transferring in the wake of Iamaleava coming to UCLA hints that the Vols could be downgrading at the position. To be as honest as I can, they are, but that does not matter. What does is finding ways to win.

Aguilar transferring from UCLA to Tennessee might break the internet, but that is what it was built for.