Quarterback Joey Aguilar is neck and neck with Peyton Manning for Tennessee football‘s single-season passing yardage record, highlighting his remarkable rise in his lone season with the Vols.
Aguilar is exactly on Manning’s pace from his Heisman Trophy runner-up season in 1997 with three regular-season games and a bowl game remaining in 2025. But there’s an asterisk in the Tennessee record book that opens the door even wider for Aguilar to break the record.
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In the 2025 season, Aguilar has passed for 2,737 yards in nine games, averaging 304.1 yards per game.
In the 1997 season, Manning passed for 3,953 yards in 13 games, also averaging 304.1 yards per game.
However, the UT record book recognizes Manning’s single-season record as 3,819 passing yards in that 1997 season, including 11 regular-season games and the SEC Championship game. The NCAA didn’t start counting bowl stats toward cumulative season stats until 2002, and it does not retroactively count bowl stats prior to that.
That means the official UT record is 3,819 yards, which Aguilar can reach in the stretch run of his brief UT career. No. 20 Tennessee (6-3, 3-3 SEC) plays New Mexico State (3-6) on Nov. 15 (4:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network) at Neyland Stadium.
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“I always got faith in myself, and I’ve produced at both levels now,” Aguilar said on Nov. 10. “But I didn’t come here just to try to put up numbers for myself. I came here to compete and help this team win, and everything just flows from that.”
Here are Tennessee’s top single-season passers
Aguilar has passed for 9,497 yards in his FBS career, including two seasons at Appalachian State and this season at Tennessee to finish his eligibility. He also played two seasons in junior college.
His 279.3 passing yards-per-game average makes him the active FBS career leader in that category.
Aguilar can reach 10,000 passing yards in his career this season. But first, he could become UT’s fifth quarterback to pass for 3,000 yards in a season. Manning did it twice.
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Here is UT’s all-time list for single-season passing yards:
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Peyton Manning: 3,819 yards (1997)
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Tyler Bray: 3,612 yards (2012)
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Erik Ainge: 3,522 yards (2007)
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Peyton Manning: 3,287 yards (1996)
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Hendon Hooker: 3,135 yards (2022)
Manning’s record was set in 12 games, and his final 134-yard outing didn’t count from a loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Bray played 12 games in 2012 because UT didn’t make a bowl game. Ainge played 14 games in 2007, including the SEC title game and the Outback Bowl. Hooker played 11 games in 2022 before suffering a torn ACL.
Aguilar’s 2,737 yards and 21 TD passes lead the SEC this season. He would need to average about 271 yards passing per game to break Manning’s single-season record.
How Joey Aguilar catches Peyton Manning in record book
That record is attainable. If UT wins by a lopsided margin over New Mexico State, Aguilar probably won’t play the whole game, but he could rack up yards before leaving.
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The Vols will finish the regular season at Florida (Nov. 22) and at home against No. 14 Vanderbilt (Nov. 29), and then they’ll play a bowl game.
Florida and Vanderbilt have allowed 214.4 and 244.7 passing yards per game, respectively. But Aguilar has routinely torched opponents above their averages.
He passed for 371 yards against Georgia, 335 yards against Mississippi State, 396 yards against Kentucky and 393 yards against Oklahoma.
“I’m certainly excited about what Joey has done,” coach Josh Heupel said. “But there’s still room left for growth out there, and that’s what we got to go get.”
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Joey Aguilar could break Peyton Manning’s Tennessee football passing record
