Tennessee football is down to just two quarterbacks on its roster after the Vols and Nico Iamaleava officially parted ways on Saturday morning.
With Iamaleava gone, Tennessee now just has two quarterbacks on its roster in redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and early enrollee freshman George MacIntyre. Will Tennessee now look to add a quarterback when the transfer portal opens up next week? Here’s what Josh Heupel said.
“Anytime your roster has the opportunity to change, that’s in December, that’s in the spring, right,” Heupel said on Saturday afternoon. “As we go through the process, you’re always evaluating what you have on your roster where you’re, I’m gonna say vulnerable, where numbers might not be right, injuries, whatever. And you’re trying to get your roster where it needs to be to give yourself the best chance when you get to kick off in the fall. And certainly with only two scholarship players at the quarterback position, we’re going to have to find another guy.”
Tennessee’s fifth-year head coach made it clear that the Vols will add a quarterback to their roster over the next month. The question then becomes what quality of player will Tennessee be able to land in the portal.
Most offseason quarterback movement happens during the winter portal period. That allows signal callers to go through spring practice at a new school and properly get adjusted to the new system. But while quarterbacks don’t typically enter the portal in the spring period, Tennessee is an attractive destination for a quarterback and they have a job open for someone to transfer in and win.
More From RTI: Everything Tennessee HC Josh Heupel Said About Nico Iamaleava’s Departure
Heupel also expressed his confidence in himself to put a quarterback in the best possible position to win games and have success.
“As a program since we’ve been here, we’ve won with a lot of different QB’s done it historically in my career with a lot of different QBs,” Heupel said. “Some of those guys have been older, some of them have been younger, but we’ll have a quarterback that’s ready to go win and help us compete for a championship.”
Whoever Tennessee adds in the transfer portal will join a quarterback room that includes a second year and first year player. Merklinger has attempted nine total passes in his college career while MacIntyre has yet to complete his first college semester.
While both Merklinger and MacIntyre are talented young quarterbacks, asking them to start this season would be a tough ask though Merklinger seems more equipped for the challenge. For Tennessee, the challenge is to now find a capable quarterback when the transfer portal officially opens up next Wednesday.
