'That's disgusting to me if that's true' – Kirk Herbstreit drops strong statement on Nico Iamaleava, Josh Heupel, and Tennessee
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit recently joined the Try That In a Small Town Podcast and, unsurprisingly, was asked about the biggest story in college football from this offseason — quarterback Nico Iamaleava's spring transfer from the Tennessee Vols to the UCLA Bruins. Iamaleava, who led Tennessee to an appearance in the College Football Playoff last season, […]
ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit recently joined the Try That In a Small Town Podcast and, unsurprisingly, was asked about the biggest story in college football from this offseason — quarterback Nico Iamaleava's spring transfer from the Tennessee Vols to the UCLA Bruins.
Iamaleava, who led Tennessee to an appearance in the College Football Playoff last season, left Rocky Top for Los Angeles in April after a report surfaced from On3 that suggested the quarterback was in "active NIL negotiations".
Tennessee and Iamaleava parted ways shortly after On3's report. As a result of Iamaleava's transfer to UCLA, the Vols added former Bruins quarterback Joey Aguilar to the roster (Aguilar, who will compete for the starting quarterback job at Tennessee, essentially lost the starting job at UCLA because of Iamaleava's transfer).
Herbstreit was asked about his thoughts on Iamaleava's transfer and whether he thinks Aguilar will be a good player for the Volunteers.
"I'm going to wait to see," said Herbstreit when asked if he thinks Aguilar for Iamaleava will be a good trade for the Volunteers. "He's (Aguilar) going into a great system. Josh Heupel puts the quarterback in a spot to be successful with the system that they run. So I wouldn't be shocked to see him do well. And also, he's going in with, I don't want to say with nothing to lose, the expectations are always high at Tennessee, but they're going to be in his corner.
"That fan base is going to be in his corner after Nico kind of left them the way he did. I don't know the true story (with Nico). I've heard different stories. Some people thought it was about money. I've heard from close sources that it was more about Nico's dad going to Josh back in December before they played Ohio State, like, 'Hey, listen, you gotta get better at offensive line and better at receiver, you gotta get better around him if you want us to stick around'. Which blows my mind that a college quarterback's dad would do that to a head coach. And I think at the end of the day, when they got into spring ball, it was still more of you (Tennessee) haven't brought people in to make [Nico] and this offense better. Again, I don't know if that's true, but that's what I was hearing. So I don't think it was necessarily about the money. I think it was more about is Nico going to be able to play well enough to eventually be a first round pick in the draft with the players that they had around him. That's disgusting to me if that's true."
"I wouldn't expect (New England Patriots quarterback) Drake Maye to go to (Patriots head coach) Mike Vrabel, or Drake Maye's dad to go to Mike Vrabel in the NFL and say, 'Hey, listen, you guys are doing a s—ty job'. But think about that. In the NFL, you wouldn't do that," continued Herbstreit. "And a college parent is doing that. If that's true, it's mind boggling that that's where we are right now — that Josh Heupel has to actually listen to a parent and feel threatened that his starting freshman quarterback might leave because he hasn't done what the dad asked. It blows my mind if that's in fact true.
"So he ended up leaving, I think a lot of people thought he'd go to Oregon, all these big places (that were rumored), and he ends up at UCLA — closer to home for him. So I wish him the best. See if it works out there at UCLA. But I think that story was incredibly strange and speaks volumes about kind of the times that we're in right now in this sport. But I'm fired up to see what Tennessee does this year, because they're kind of in an underdog role after you lose your franchise quarterback like that overnight. So I think we're all excited to kind of see who they are and what Josh does, because he's a great coach."
There are all kinds of theories and rumors about why Iamaleava and Tennessee parted ways.
Ultimately, based on things I heard from various sources, there were numerous reasons why the relationship between the two sides deteriorated from December to April. And both sides probably deserve to shoulder some responsibility for the way things went down.
At this point, though, it doesn't really matter what happened between the two sides or who is to blame. Iamaleava is moving forward with his career at UCLA, and the Vols are moving forward with a three-man quarterback competition between Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
The results at the end of the season will tell us which side (Iamaleava or Tennessee) got the better end of this deal.
