What A Sport: Nico Iamaleava, the $8 million quarterback, will not play for Tennessee
Tennessee set history by making five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava the $8-million dollar quarterback. The former blue-chip recruit who starred as a volleyball player in high school is now reportedly being forced into the transfer portal by his school. Josh Heupel has apparently had enough of this hold-in.
Nico Iamaleava is now a college football free agent.
Nico Iamaleava sat behind Joe Milton as a true freshman before getting the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2024. The Southern California native helped lead the Vols to the College Football Playoff and a 10-2 regular-season record. Iamaleava threw for 2,616 yards on 7.8 yards per attempt with 475 non-sack rushing yards and 22 total touchdowns in 13 games last fall. Tennessee used a terrific running game and top-10 defense to win games, but Iamaleava was expected to become one of the better quarterbacks in college football next season.
That will not happen in Knoxville.
Redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre were set to enter the year as the primary backups for the Vols. Both quarterbacks were top-250 recruits. Will the Vols go young at the position or enter the transfer portal to find a new starting quarterback? Stay tuned.
Do not expect to see Nico Iamaleava in the SEC next season. The conference has a rule that does not allow intraconference transfers in the spring portal window.
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Nico Iamaleava tried to play some hardball with Tennessee and their NIL collective for $4 million in 2025. It sounds like both sides couldn’t agree to terms.
What a sport.
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