Paul Finebaum makes strong statement on how he feels about the Tennessee Vols without Nico Iamaleava in 2025
ESPN's Paul Finebaum didn't hesitate to make it known how he feels about the Tennessee Vols in 2025 with quarterback Nico Iamaleava no longer on the roster. Iamaleava, who led Tennessee to wins against Florida and Alabama and an appearance in College Football Playoff last season, left the Vols near the end of the spring […]
ESPN's Paul Finebaum didn't hesitate to make it known how he feels about the Tennessee Vols in 2025 with quarterback Nico Iamaleava no longer on the roster.
Iamaleava, who led Tennessee to wins against Florida and Alabama and an appearance in College Football Playoff last season, left the Vols near the end of the spring practice. The former five-star recruit transferred to UCLA a few days later (Iamaleava is from southern California).
With Iamaleava off to Los Angeles, the Vols will hold a quarterback competition this fall between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre.
During a "fine or not fine" segment on ESPN's SportsCenter on Tuesday, Finebaum suggested that Tennessee is "not fine" without Iamaleava.
"I'm going to say not fine," said Finebaum. "This was the biggest story of the offseason with Nico Iamaleava leaving. Joey Aguilar from App State via UCLA is not the perfect answer. He's good, but he's not great. Nico could've been great, even though he wasn't last year. And quite frankly, I don't like Tennessee's chances in the playoffs at all."
There's no guarantee that Aguilar will start for the Vols this fall, but VolQuest's Austin Price suggested Tuesday on 104.5 The Zone that Aguilar's experience — two seasons at Appalachian State and two at Diablo Valley Community College — could give him the edge in Tennessee's quarterback competition.
"Joey Aguilar does have all of the game experience," said Price. "And then the other two, even for George MacIntyre, he's got four or five months of being on campus in the system. And, of course, Jake Merklinger has a year and a half of [being in the system].
"For Josh Heupel, that's why this thing's going to be a wide open competition come August. And it's up to Joey Aguilar to hit the ground running. If he can learn the offense and not make the mental errors in fall camp, I think his game experience would be the tipping point in his favor. Obviously, if you don't know the offense and you're making mental errors or throwing interceptions a bunch in fall camp, I think that obviously hurts his opportunity to be the starting quarterback. But if he's able to pick up the offense well enough for Josh Heupel and (Vols offensive coordinator) Joey Halzle and everybody to feel confident in him, I think the game experience takes him over the top here. I do think he's got some moxie to him."
There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to Tennessee football in 2025, but one thing we do know is that the Vols shouldn't be lacking in the motivation department — thanks to folks like Paul Finebaum.
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