The story dominating the college football news cycle as spring games and practices are underway is the drama surrounding now-former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava led Tennessee to a successful season last year, earning the Volunteers their first berth in the College Football Playoff. As one does in the NIL/transfer portal era, Iamaleava decided that type of performance necessitated a pay raise from his current team. The Vols, however, decided Iamaleava’s demands were too much. After the star quarterback held out of spring practices, Tennessee decided it was best to simply cut ties.
That puts the Vols in a less-than-enviable position going into the 2025 season. Behind Iamaleava is a redshirt freshman with very little game experience and a true freshman who has never taken a snap. With the spring transfer period about to take off, Tennessee will need to find a quarterback, or else they might find themselves in big trouble come this fall.
One prominent college football analyst put it a bit more succinctly, however. “Screwed.” That’s what Urban Meyer thinks about Tennessee’s quarterback situation. Talking with Fox Sports host Rob Stone and Fox Sports college football analyst Mark Ingram on their The Triple Option podcast, Meyer explained why.
“Here’s the reality,” Meyer began. “Tennessee is screwed. I mean, they got a problem. You lost a potential high draft pick. You have the backup quarterback [leave] last year, and now you have a redshirt freshman that threw nine passes and a freshman. You have zero experience. And the portal opens as we speak, they are going to have to go get one.
“There’s a couple key elements here,” Meyer continued. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Hey, nice job, Tennessee, making a stand.’ I got a little comment on that. Tennessee plays Florida usually every year in October. Can you imagine if that game’s going the other way and [Tennessee coach] Josh Heupel grabs the microphone and stands on the 50-yard line at Neyland Stadium and says, ‘Hey, it’s okay? I made a stand way back when.'”
Urban Meyer makes a solid point. This might seem like an attractive option now, not being extorted by a star quarterback who wants a payday and protecting your locker room from drama in the process. But come October, the only thing that will matter to the fans is wins and losses.
Heupel and Tennessee are taking a massive risk by cutting ties with Iamaleava, and it will only pay off if they find a quarterback that will win them games this season. Otherwise, the team will have lost much of the goodwill it earned last season.