Urban Meyer on Nico Iamaleava departure: 'Tennessee is screwed'

The college football world felt a shockwave sent through the sport when Tennessee starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava entered the transfer portal after reaching an impasse over NIL compensation. It was unexpected, to say the least.

A quarterback that had just taken his team to the College Football Playoff departing over irreconcilable differences in NIL? It seemed almost unfathomable a few weeks ago. Until it wasn’t.

And now former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer says there are lasting consequences for Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee. He explained on The Triple Option podcast.

“Here’s the reality: Tennessee is screwed,” Meyer said. “They got a problem. You lose a potential high draft pick. You have the backup quarterback left last year and now you have a redshirt freshman that threw nine passes as a freshman. You have zero experience, and the portal opens as we speak. They are going to have to go get one.”

It’ll be interesting to see what tack Tennessee takes going forward. The transfer portal is certainly an option, though choices there are likely to be a little limited in the spring window.

Can the Volunteers get by with what they have in the quarterback room now that Nico Iamaleava is gone? That’s a question coach Josh Heupel has to answer in a hurry.

“And here’s the thing, there’s a couple key elements here,” Meyer said. “Everybody’s saying, ‘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, ‘It’s OK, I made a stand way back when.'”

The implication? Fans may laud the move now, but ultimately what happens on the field will drive public opinion the most. And fans won’t simply give you a pass for doing “the right thing” with Nico Iamaleava if it negatively impacts the end result.

“So I don’t know what the answer is. There are some interesting answers out there,” Meyer said. “But it happened. And think about this, he threw for 200 yards in eight games, more or less. Two hundred yards. He had one 300-yard game and he threw for 104 yards against Ohio State in the playoffs. He had a good year first year as starting quarterback, but I, as a guy that’s been involved almost 40 years in this game, I can’t believe this happened.”