This is just pretty darn disappointing all the way around. The Tennessee football team is ready to move on at quarterback, with Nico Iamaleava off to UCLA to continue his college career. Him leaving Knoxville is still something people are not happy about.
In his goodbye message, Iamaleava thanked Vols Nation for everything and he said he didn't anticipate leaving town so soon after he signed as a 5-star prospect in 2023. However, rumors had been swirling that his exit had been in the works for quite some time.
ESPN went ahead and confirmed things after speaking with multiple sources. Per a new report from Chris Low, Max Olson and Adam Rittenberg, Iamaleava nearly transferred in the winter, but Josh Heupel was able to 'smooth' things over. However, in March, Iamaleava's reps apparently reached out to Oregon to see if they had interest in bringing him in. Oregon then notified Heupel and Co., which of course infuriated everyone inside of the football building for the Vols.
ESPN confirmed Iamaleava's reps contacted Oregon before he entered the transfer portal
"Before Tennessee's spring practices began in March, school officials were alerted by Oregon's staff that Iamaleava's camp had contacted the Ducks inquiring about their interest, according to sources at Oregon and Tennessee," ESPN wrote. "Oregon told the Iamaleava camp it wasn't interested."
Remember all those rumors about Dan Lanning reaching out to Heupel to let him know what was going on? Yeah, turns out they were true. Iamaleava ended up going through nearly the entire spring camp with UT, but he skipped the final Friday practice ahead of the spring game.
That morning of the spring game, Heupel informed his team that the damage was done and that the program was moving forward without Nico in town. Since then, Iamaleava has signed with UCLA, while Tennessee landed former UCLA signal-caller Joey Aguilar.
Per ESPN's report, the driving force behind Iamaleava's decision to leave the Vols had nothing to do with money, but it was more about the offense. This is something Tennessee fans continue to laugh about, as UCLA's O was among the worst in the Big Ten last season. Iamaleava is also expected to take a pay cut in 2025 from what he was projected to make with Tennessee.
While there are two sides to every story, it sure looks like Iamaleava had one foot out the door for a little while. His team reaching out to Oregon in March is what a lot of people had heard about, which was infuriating. ESPN confirming things only adds to the anger for a lot of Vols supporters over how everything has transpired in the past month or so.