Tennessee Vols head coach Josh Heupel spills the beans on exactly when he knew he was moving on from QB Nico Iamaleava
The Tennessee Volunteers and quarterback Nico Iamaleava have gone their separate ways. A marriage famously made in Spring of 2022 has crumbled and ended in divorce three years later. On Saturday afternoon following the Orange and White game, Josh Heupel addressed the media and explained exactly when, over tense pair of days for Tennessee and […]
The Tennessee Volunteers and quarterback Nico Iamaleava have gone their separate ways. A marriage famously made in Spring of 2022 has crumbled and ended in divorce three years later.
On Saturday afternoon following the Orange and White game, Josh Heupel addressed the media and explained exactly when, over tense pair of days for Tennessee and their players, coaches, staff, and fans, it was apparent to him that Nico and the Vols were done together.
"Friday morning, when he was a no show," Heupel said. "You come off the practice field, and there's no communication."
The news about renewed contractual demands from Iamaleava's camp came to light on Thursday in a report from On3 Sports' Pete Nakos. That was debated publicly by Nico's father on Twitter/X, but things took a surreal turn with Nico's failure to appear at practice on Friday, which caught everyone completely by surprise. And, as it turns out, it sealed his fate in the mind of his head coach.
The split marks the end of one of the pioneer agreements in the new and virtually unregulated NIL era. Iamaleava committed to the Vols in March 2022 and reached an NIL agreement that was believed to be at least $2 million annually (NIL agreements are not public, so the exact figures, terms, and responsibilities are not known).
That apparently wasn't enough anymore for Iamaleava's camp, and now the Vols are going to be looking for another QB in the portal, which Heupel confirmed on Saturday afternoon, as the Vols only have two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster in redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre.
Ready or not, the Vols are closing the book and moving on from a promising chapter of the program that had a very bizarre ending.
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The Nico Iamaleava situation with the Tennessee Vols continues to unfold in shocking fashion. Just days before the Tennessee Vols spring game and the spring Transfer Portal opening (on April 16) it looks as though the former five star quarterback is "holding out" amid his contract negotiations. No, this is not the NFL we're talking […]
