Tennessee moving on from starting QB Nico Iamaleava
from Andrew Kulha, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Nico Iamaleava was supposed to be the next great quarterback for the Tennessee Volunteers, and for a time, it appeared that he was on track.
He’s a former 5-star recruit ranked as the No. 2 quarterback in the 2023 class behind only Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning. In his first full season as a starter, he threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdowns (five interceptions) while rushing for 358 yards and three touchdowns.
He helped the Volunteers qualify for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, and now, shockingly, Tennessee is moving on from Iamaleava as he enters the transfer portal.
Pete Thamel
@PeteThamel
Sources: Tennessee is moving on from starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Tennessee coach Josh Heupel informed the team of the decision at a team meeting this morning. Iamaleava missed meetings and practice on Friday, which was the driver of this decision.
Iamaleava and Tennessee were allegedly in active “contract negotiations” ahead of the 2025 season.
Those negotiations apparently didn’t go well because he missed a practice and a team meeting on Friday, leading head coach Josh Heupel to move on from the starting quarterback.
Iamaleava seemed to try to “hold out” like his NFL counterparts, but Heupel and Tennessee didn’t want to play the game.
Despite this, Iamaleava will be the most sought-after player on the transfer portal until his next commitment.
Wonder if Tennessee will try to get Faizon Brandon to reclassify and enroll in June.
Was wondering the same thing and if he needed Summer classes to get his final high school work done, he could probably knock that out in June…Don’t think Grimsley or Faizon would comment on this though…Tennesse could find a starter for the 2025 season, and bring on Faizon and have him getting all the practice work he needs to be ready to take over the following year…Get to college a year earlier and he would be getting ready to get to the pros a year earlier too….