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Josh Heupel on Nico Iamaleava cutting off communication with Tennessee
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said he hasn’t spoken to Nico Iamaleava since the quarterback skipped practice. He’s now no longer on the team.
Over the past week, Nico Iamaleava has become a lightning rod, a highly-touted player at a high-profile position at a storied program who has added yet another twist to a rapidly evolving, occasionally unrecognizable college football landscape.
Though he’s been largely silent publicly since he and the Tennessee football program parted ways last Saturday, the former Vols quarterback felt the need to address and dispute at least one of the many things that has been said and reported about him over the past seven days.
Iamaleava took to Instagram Friday to deny a report from CBS college football pundit Josh Pate that he, along with several other Tennessee players, threatened to sit out of the Vols’ College Football Playoff game against Ohio State over NIL disputes.
“Damn I tried to sit out and throw the playoff game too?” Iamaleava wrote in an Instagram story Friday, which includes a picture of him attempting to stiff-arm Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon. “These boys just make me laugh man. Ain’t no way.”
In its first College Football Playoff appearance, Tennessee was blown out 42-17 by the Buckeyes, the eventual national champion. Iamaleava had arguably his worst game of the season, completing only 14 of his 31 passes for a season-low 104 yards.
After Iamaleava missed a practice and did not respond to coaches over an NIL dispute, Tennessee moved on from the former five-star quarterback last Saturday. Iamaleava officially entered the NCAA transfer portal when it opened on Wednesday and has potentially…
Source link : https://www.knoxnews.com/story/sports/college/university-of-tennessee/football/2025/04/18/nico-iamaleava-tennessee-sit-out-college-football-playoff-ohio-state/83166098007/
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Publish date : 2025-04-18 23:37:00
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