Josh Heupel clarifies timeline behind Nico Iamaleava departure

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel clarified the timeline behind QB Nico Iamaleava’s departure from the program amid an NIL renegotiation. They knew it was over prior to Saturday’s spring game.

Heupel confirmed as much Saturday after Iamaleava ultimately decided to leave and plans to enter the transfer portal. Now that the few-days mess is behind both parties, it’s onto what’s next.

As far as when Heupel knew it was over, it was obvious. Iamaleava was a no-show.

“Friday morning, you know when he’s a no show,” Heupel said. “You come off the field, and there’s no communication.”

The Vols QB was in negotiations about his NIL deal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Iamaleava missing practice and meetings on Friday turned a lot of heads in the college football world.

“Wednesday was a practice day,” Heupel said. “Thursday, our players were off, and Friday was the first time that we were back in the building as a team. And that was just kind of the structure of the week in the lead up to the spring game, giving those guys a day off. I’m not going to get into the details of everything and the timing of that. That’s just some fairness to both parties, but at the end of the day, he’s moving on. We’re moving on too and we’ll be ready to roll and get to next fall.” 

Of course this caused a firestorm of reactions throughout Friday, considering the magnitude, ranging from positive to negative reactions. With QB NIL market reset since Iamaleava signed on with Tennessee out of high school, he and his camp looked for a new deal.

As Iamaleava and his crew began negotiations about a new deal, it wasn’t a new thing at Tennessee. ESPN’s Chris Low has since tweeted out several notes about that news, including the fact that this supposedly isn’t the first time that those representing the quarterback have had conversations with other schools.

“One thing to add here is that Josh Heupel and Iamaleava have a very healthy relationship,” Low tweeted on Friday. “But this is not the first time Iamaleava’s reps have talked to other schools over the last few months.”

Iamaleava originally sought a huge payday back in December, per Low. His representatives looked to increase the quarterback’s deal to the “$4 million range” in NIL just before the end of the transfer portal window, per his report. Still, those with the Volunteers “weren’t going to blink” at those demands.