Following a tumultuous offseason that saw returning starting QB Nico Iamaleava transfer to UCLA after a dispute over NIL compensation, Tennessee has officially moved on at quarterback. That involved adding former Appalachian State transfer Joey Aguilar — by way of UCLA — out of the NCAA Transfer Portal in what effectively amounted to college football’s first QB trade.

Upon landing in Knoxville back in June, the veteran Aguilar joined a talented albeit wholly inexperienced Volunteers quarterback room that included redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, a third-stringer last season, and four-star true freshman George MacIntyre, both of whom participated in Spring practice.

Given his prior experience at Appalachian State, which included two record-breaking seasons in Boone, N.C., Aguilar is the overwhelming favorite to lead the Volunteers out of the tunnel this upcoming season. But since Wednesday’s start to preseason camp will be his first official practice in Knoxville, Tennessee coaches aren’t yet ready to name a starting quarterback.

Of course, that doesn’t mean third-year Vols offensive coordinator Joey Halzle doesn’t know what he’s looking for from whomever Tennessee ultimately names QB1 ahead of the Aug. 30 season opener vs. Syracuse at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“First and foremost, you’ve got to play this game in this offense with an aggressive nature. I think a lot of times, the mistake quarterbacks make in a competition is they try not to lose it. They try just not to make a mistake. We want out guy to walk the line between being extremely aggressive but not reckless at all,” Halzle said Tuesday ahead of Tennessee’s first official preseason practice Wednesday. “Reckless is just throwing a ball up for grabs. Aggressive is driving a ball into a tight window. So, we want our guy to be aggressive, we want him to be smart, and we want him to operate this offense.”

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Aguilar is known as an athletic playmaker having rushed for 452 yards and five touchdowns the past two seasons at Appalachian State, along with throwing for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns on 60-percent passing with the Mountaineers. Aguilar played his first two collegiate seasons in the junior college ranks at Diablo Valley.

Meanwhile, Merklinger is considered more of a traditional passer after appearing in just two games as a freshman in 2024, completing 6-of-9 passes for 48 yards to go along with seven carries for 22 yards in early-season mop-up duty last season.

“It’s not just about who throws the ball the furthest or the hardest. It’s about who can operate this offense that when we take the field, he gives us a chance to win,” Halzle continued. “Whether that’s them carrying the football, them getting to their check downs and then making big plays down the field. However it presents to that individual’s skill set, it’s them doing that at an extremely high level to where we say that’s the guy that gives us the best chance to be up plus-1 at the end of a ballgame.”

Earlier Tuesday, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel expressed hope one of the three Vols QBs will establish himself as “the guy” in Knoxville early in Fall camp to allow the team an opportunity to develop some consistency ahead of the season-opener. Whether that’s Aguilar or another UT quarterback remains to be seen, but all early indications are it’s the veteran transfer’s job to lose.

“It’s a grind. You meet a lot of new guys and a lot of new coaches with different coaching styles,” Sesar said. “Everybody wants the best for you, but you have to worry about yourself.”

The 6-foot-4 righty is no stranger to that grind. He made an immediate impact at Bucks County Community College, posting a 2.25 ERA over 12 appearances—nine of them starts—and recording an eye-popping 89 strikeouts in just 48 innings. He had momentum, and plenty of it.

But that momentum came to a halt in the spring of 2023, when Sesar began experiencing elbow discomfort.

“I rehabbed that year to get ready to play with the Trenton Thunder in the MLB Draft League. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out; the arm was still bothering me,” Sesar recalled. “I went and got it looked at that summer and ended up needing surgery.”

Fortunately, the procedure—ulnar nerve transposition surgery—came with a relatively short six-month recovery. Once cleared, Sesar got to work. By August of 2023, he committed to Division I Manhattan College. In limited action with the Jaspers, he impressed: seven appearances, 11 innings, and a 1.64 ERA.

Following the season, he entered the portal again—this time landing at Holy Family University in Philadelphia. With the Tigers in 2025, Sesar led the staff with 50 strikeouts over 39.2 innings. He recorded six or more strikeouts in six of his eight starts, including a seven-inning complete game against Chestnut Hill in which he fanned 10.

“Wherever you go now these days it’s competitive,” Sesar said. “Whether it’s D1, D2, or D3, you’re going to have guys that can hit the ball. They are going to put up competitive at-bats. It’s all about you as a competitor. You have to go out there and compete regardless at what level you’re at.”

To become more competitive himself, Sesar added a new pitch to his arsenal. Originally working with a three-pitch mix, he took on the challenge of learning one of the game’s most difficult pitches—the splitter—thanks to Andrew Lihotz, Director of Philly Select Baseball.

“Drew helped me out a lot with the pitch,” Sesar said. “It was rough at first—a lot of throwing it during catch play and sitting with a softball in between my fingers to stretch them out. Just those little things helped out.”

The splitter has since become a key part of his five-pitch mix, which also includes a fastball that touches 95 mph, a changeup, and a curveball. The results have followed—both for Sesar and for Rake, his team in the Philly Select Baseball League.

“He’s been phenomenal. Every time he’s on the mound he gives us a chance to win,” said Rake’s head coach, Stuart Drossner.

Drossner knows what it takes to get noticed. His son Jake was drafted out of Council Rock North by the Cubs in the 23rd round of the 2012 draft, then again in the 10th round by the Brewers after a standout career at Maryland.

“Jorden just needs an opportunity. He has a really good arm. He probably could get back to Division I and be a bullpen arm right now. He’s good,” Drossner said.

Both Sesar and Drossner understand that talent finds a way—whether you’re in national showcases or throwing on local fields in rural counties. For Sesar, the goal is simple: extend the journey just a little longer.

“You’re playing baseball at the end of the day,” Sesar said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at—you’ll get seen.”

Sport is a crowded business, and while global leagues like the NFL and Premier League enjoy billion-pound broadcast deals and cross-generational fandom, emerging competitions like the World Supercross Championship have to build from the ground up. That means more than a new logo or colour palette. It means rethinking what a sports brand is and who it’s really for.

When the World Supercross Championship approached Zag, the brief wasn’t to “modernise” or copy the big leagues. The goal was to create a brand that could grow with its audience, rooted in culture rather than convention, and appeal to both long-time fans and those just discovering the sport.

“The breakthrough came when we stopped thinking of World Supercross as a traditional motorsport and started seeing it as a global subculture,” says James Hurst, partner and chief creative officer at Zag. “The existing fanbase wasn’t looking for polish or prestige — they wanted authenticity, adrenaline, and identity.”

Rather than begin with legacy sports models, Zag’s strategy team cast the net wide. They reviewed 31 brands and interviewed investors and insiders, not just in sport but across entertainment and creator culture. They drew inspiration from newer, fan-first formats like Kings League and Fan Controlled Football, as well as the expressive visual identities of music and streetwear, and from live experiences like Burning Man that blend performance and participation.

These references helped the team understand what modern fans want: shorter, sharper bursts of entertainment; multiple ways to engage with the action; and a sense of direct connection to the athletes themselves. The goal wasn’t to sanitise the Supercross identity for the mainstream, but to amplify what made it magnetic. “We realised this wasn’t a sport that needed to be massified; it needed to be magnified,” says James.

The result of that thinking is a brand that’s unapologetically itself, starting with the strategic platform “Make Dirt Fly.” More than a slogan, the phrase became a creative and commercial North Star.

“It captured the visceral thrill of the sport, it celebrated the subcultural swagger of the community, and it signalled the global ambition to take this experience to new audiences,” explains James. “It became more than a line — it was a filter for every creative decision.”

That positioning needed an identity system to match, and so Zag made a point of avoiding tired motorsport tropes. “We began with a banned list: chrome gradients, checkered flags, carbon fibre textures, italicised speed fonts — anything that felt predictable or performative,” James recalls. Instead, they built from the dirt up: tyre treads, terrain marks and motion behaviours formed the basis of a design language that’s both raw and expansive.

The new logo takes its cues from the track, incorporating a semiotic metaphor in the form of a knobbly tyre tread “W” mark. A custom typeface, reworked from Space Grotesk, anchors the visual identity with confidence and clarity. The photography style favours fisheye perspectives, dynamic crops and gritty textures, leaning into the visual heritage of extreme sports while making room for fresh storytelling.

One of the most distinctive components is what Zag calls “The Global Canvas.” It’s a modular system combining circular motifs (echoing planetary motion and the sport’s global reach) with tactile graphics built from tyre textures and dirt trails. The effect is flexible but cohesive and easily adapted across live events, social content, merch, broadcast graphics and beyond.

“Every asset º from arena graphics to motion tiles – can be built from the same system, with just enough flexibility to reflect local energy and individual style,” says James.

This was crucial for a competition with global ambition. The 2025 season kicks off in October and will see races in Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver, Buenos Aires, Cape Town and the Gold Coast. The new identity helps bridge audiences and geographies while staying rooted in the culture of Supercross itself.

“We wanted to build something that felt grounded in the dirt but designed to travel,” says James. “The more we leaned into the authenticity of the community – their language, style, rituals – the more distinct and exportable the brand became.”

That sense of specificity has a commercial purpose, too. In a sports media environment shaped by free-to-air content, creator-led leagues and audience fragmentation, Zag’s strategy goes beyond aesthetics. Their discovery work explored new revenue opportunities, the future of broadcast formats, and fan engagement models inspired by esports and digital-first brands. The identity system is built to flex alongside these ambitions.

For Luisa Fernandez, chief product officer at the World Supercross Championship, the process was about more than surface-level rebranding. “The Zag team were incredible at helping us not just create a new brand for our sport, but helping us achieve our long-term product and growth ambitions,” she says. “They brought niche but relevant analogues, were always open to challenge, and were a true partner throughout.”

As more challenger leagues look to scale without simply mimicking the big players, Zag’s approach offers a blueprint for building sports brands that are expressive, culturally literate, and designed to feel alive.

“The next generation of sports brands will be built less like institutions and more like movements,” says James. “Supercross isn’t trying to be for everyone – and that’s exactly why it has the potential to go everywhere.”

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