There's a phone call that Tennessee's Josh Heupel needs to immediately make in the midst of the Nico Iamaleava NIL drama
We'll likely find out in the coming days (maybe the coming hours) how the NIL drama with Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava plays out. Iamaleava wasn't at practice on Friday, which reportedly came as a surprise to Tennessee's coaches. For now, it's unclear if Iamaleava plans to continue as the quarterback at Tennessee or if […]
We'll likely find out in the coming days (maybe the coming hours) how the NIL drama with Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava plays out.
Iamaleava wasn't at practice on Friday, which reportedly came as a surprise to Tennessee's coaches.
For now, it's unclear if Iamaleava plans to continue as the quarterback at Tennessee or if he will enter the NCAA transfer portal when it opens next week.
If Iamaleava ends up transferring from Tennessee because of this whole situation, it would leave redshirt freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger as Tennessee's starting quarterback with true freshman George MacIntyre as the backup. It's possible that Tennessee could look to the portal for a potential starting quarterback, but I'd lean toward Vols head coach Josh Heupel preferring to start Merklinger.
And if that's what ends up happening, I'm not sure that going into the season with MacIntyre as the sole backup would be a good idea.
That's why I think Heupel needs to get on the phone and gauge former Vols quarterback Gaston Moore's interest in returning.
Moore, who started his career at UCF under Heupel, spent the last four seasons at Tennessee before entering the NCAA transfer portal in December.
So far, it doesn't appear that Moore has found a new home. The South Carolina native played the entire second half of Tennessee's win against Mississippi State last season after Iamaleava was ruled out due to the concussion protocol. It's not easy to find a backup quarterback in the portal, but Moore would be an ideal depth option considering his familiarity with Heupel and the rest of Tennessee's roster.
Depth isn't a sexy word in college football, but it's important. And going into the season with just two scholarship quarterbacks certainly wouldn't be an ideal scenario for Tennessee. Heupel should at least see if Moore is interested in returning to Rocky Top.
