Tennessee held its spring game on Saturday afternoon in the midst of a public breakup with starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Right before the festivities began, coach Josh Heupel addressed the decision to move on from Iamaleava for the first time.
After NIL contract negotiations went public on Thursday, the situation quickly soured between Iamaleava’s camp and Tennessee. His absence from Tennessee’s final spring practice on Friday only fueled more speculation. The saga reached its conclusion on Saturday morning when the Vols chose to cut ties with the former five-star signal caller.
Just a few hours after Iamaleava was removed from the official roster, Heupel offered his first comments on the situation.
“It’s the state of college football,” Heupel said. “At the end of the day, no one is bigger than the program. That includes me too. We’ve got an opportunity. We’ve got a bunch of guys who are going to give their all for Tennessee. We move forward. Got a great group. Let’s go compete.”
As for the two scholarship quarterbacks left on the roster, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre, Heupel said he was excited to watch them perform after a productive spring.
“We got two guys in that room,” Heupel said. “Excited to watch them go play. They’ve had a really good spring.”
Tennessee moving on from Nico Iamaleava strikes a blow against never-ending NIL negotiations
Chris Hummer
Iamaleava’s time in Knoxville is over, but his departure is just the first domino to fall in this spring transfer portal window. CBS Sports is posting live updates on the saga as Iamaleava looks for a new program — and Tennessee explores its options to replace him.