The biggest story coming into this offseason was the shocking departure of Tennessee Volunteers starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava.
Iamaleava played a huge part in the Vols making the College Football Playoff for the first time last season, but as soon as the Vols were eliminated, rumors started to surface that Iamaleava was unhappy and wanted more NIL money.
On the podcast ‘Try That In a Small Town” ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit gave in shocking detail the real reason why the quarterback left Knoxville.
Herbstreit says it was Iamaleava’s father, Nic, who made those demands.
“I don’t know the true story. I’ve heard different stories,” said Herbstreit. “Some people thought it was about money. I’ve heard from close sources it was more about Nico’s dad going to Josh (Heupel), back in December before they played Ohio State, like, hey, listen, you’ve got to get better at offensive line, better at receiver. You’ve got to get better around him if you want us to stick around – which blows my mind that a college quarterback’s dad would do that to a head coach. And I think, at the end of the day, when they got into spring ball, it was still more of, you haven’t brought people in to make him and this offense better.”
The plan backfired. The Vols did not meet Iamaleava’s demands, and he ended up at UCLA. Iamaleava became the poster child for what could go wrong in the transfer portal. He and his father clearly thought they had the upper hand, but as they both found out, the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Instead of possibly competing for a national championship, the once five-star QB will be competing to see if he can get the Bruins to a bowl game at the end of the year.
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Source link : https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/tennessee/news/kirk-herbstreit-reveals-shocking-reason-why-nico-iamaleava-left-tennessee/20ddaeee64bc1eda24e04f64
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Publish date : 2025-07-21 21:05:00
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