ESPN college football analyst and College Gameday host Rece Davis has expressed his opinions regarding Nico Iamaleava's excuses for transferring from Tennessee.
Davis welcomed fellow ESPN employee Pete Thamel on his College Gameday podcast on Monday to discuss Nico's decision to move closer to home and transfer from Tennessee to UCLA.
"They've (Nico and his dad) now thrown scheme fit and NFL preparedness out there (as reasons for leaving Tennessee)," ESPN's Pete Thamel told Davis.
This was the excuse that Nico's camp shared as his reason for transferring from Tennessee. Josh Heupel's offense was apparently too fun, explosive, and exciting for the Iamaleava family since they decided to transfer to UCLA, and an offense that isn't nearly as QB-friendly as Heupel's offense.
Davis wasted no time responding to the excuses given by the Iamaleava camp, calling them hot garbage.
"That's hot garbage, by the way," Davis responded to Thamel. "The one thing that they have said is that, well, the pieces around him weren't sufficient, weren't what he needed. And UCLA is?
"Look, I'm really bullish on (UCLA head coach) DeShaun Foster. I like him very much. You know my friendship with and belief in, as a rising star in the coaching industry, in their new offensive coordinator, Tino Sunseri, and whether I'm right about that, we'll find out. We don't know.
"But I believe in Tino. I believe in DeShaun. I think he's a good coach and a good fit there. But you can't go in and start saying that Tennessee is not as prepared as UCLA in terms of pieces around him. That's preposterous on its face."
UCLA might have the answers Nico and his camp are looking for, but it's hard to argue that DeShaun Foster has a better system in place for a quarterback looking to be successful in the NFL. Maybe they offer something Tennessee doesn't.
Time will tell how Nico fares at UCLA and if it is ultimately a better landing spot and better offensive system for his play style.
The Vols have their next quarterback. On Monday afternoon, they signed former App State and UCLA quarterback Joey Aguilar out of the portal, completing the quarterback swap with the Bruins.