'Tennessee is screwed' – Former national championship winning coach offers strong take on Vols' decision to move on from Nico Iamaleava
Former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer, unsurprisingly, had some thoughts this week on the Tennessee Vols' decision to move on from quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava officially entered the NCAA transfer portal on Wednesday. "Make your stand, and that's fine, that's great," said Meyer on The Triple Option of Vols head […]
Former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer, unsurprisingly, had some thoughts this week on the Tennessee Vols' decision to move on from quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava officially entered the NCAA transfer portal on Wednesday.
"Make your stand, and that's fine, that's great," said Meyer on The Triple Option of Vols head coach Josh Heupel's decision to move on from Iamaleava after the quarterback didn't show up to last Friday's practice. "Very talented player. Did not have a great year, that's the thing you gotta push back on a little bit. When I saw that he had only one 300-yard game, eight games under 200 (yards) and in the playoff (against Ohio State), 104 passing yards. We watched him a lot…I think he's super talented. But he did not a great year. Had a good year. And they won games.
"Here’s the reality is Tennessee is screwed. I mean they are. They got a problem. You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the backup quarterback (Gaston Moore) left last year and now you have a redshirt freshman (Jake Merklinger) that threw nine passes and a (true) freshman (George MacIntyre). You have zero experience, and the portal opens as we speak. They are going to have to go get one.”
“And here’s the thing, there’s a couple key elements here,” continued Meyer. “Everybody’s saying, hey, nice job Tennessee, making a stand. I’ve got a little comment on that. Tennessee plays Florida usually every year in October. Can you imagine that game’s going the other way and Coach Heupel grabs the microphone and stands on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium and says, ‘hey, it’s OK, I made a stand way back when.'”
(For the record, Tennessee plays Florida on November 22 in 2025.)
"I can't believe this happened," added Meyer.
There are plenty of opinions flying around about the situation between Iamaleava and Tennessee. But ultimately, the situation is what it is. The Vols are moving forward without Iamaleava on the roster and they'll continue to have their sights set on winning as many games as possible. Iamaleava, meanwhile, is searching for a new home where he can reboot his football career and prove that he's an NFL talent.
‘There’s more to this story than just money’ – Insider says Nico Iamaleava’s departure was related to Tennessee’s offensive style
There’s always more to the story
