The bombshell of Nico Iamaleava’s departure from Tennessee will rock the college football world this offseason.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Saturday morning that Tennessee is “moving on” from the rising redshirt-sophomore signal caller after he no-showed practice on Friday. Reports made public over the last 72 hours indicated that tense contract renegotiations were ongoing between Tennessee’s NIL collective and Iamaleava’s camp before the Orange & White game on Saturday.
“Sources: Tennessee is moving on from starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava,” Thamel posted to X on Saturday morning. “Tennessee coach Josh Heupel informed the team of the decision at a team meeting this morning. Iamaleava missed meetings and practice on Friday, which was the driver of this decision.”
Prior to the news of Iamaleava’s departure, Tennessee had a 9.5 over/under win total, according to Fanduel Sportsbook. That number dropped to 8.5 wins following the monumental shift on Saturday.
The under-9.5 number did have favorable odds on Friday, though, indicating that uncertainty was already creeping in and went over the hump with the news on Saturday.
Here’s a look at where Tennessee’s updated season odds currently stand:
More from RTI: What To Know About Tennessee Quarterback Jake Merklinger
It isn’t often that a playoff-caliber team is looking to replace its starting quarterback on the morning on the spring game, but that’s the position that Tennessee is currently in on Saturday. Expectations are that rising redshirt-freshman quarterback Jake Merklinger will man the starting offense during the spring game on Saturday while true freshman quarterback George MacIntyre leads the next group.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the Tennessee Football Orange & White game with quarterback Jake Merklinger in action on Saturday afternoon.
One Response
Nico clearly wasn’t worth his original NIL contract. That money should have went to Dylan Sampson. Good riddance underachiever!!!!