If you were hoping for a relaxing few days leading up to the Tennessee football spring game, On3's Pete Nakos had other ideas. On Thursday, the insider dropped quite the report, stating that standout signal-caller Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee are working on a new contract.
Not only that, Nakos added that it's unclear whether or not the negotiations could lead to Nico entering the spring transfer portal or not. Wait, what? Iamaleava leaving Knoxville would of course be the worst-case scenario.
Not long after the Nakos report dropped, rumors started flying that potentially Iamaleava is looking at heading elsewhere. It looks like Iamaleava has seen the talk surrounding his name, as he recently posted a cryptic social media post that has a lot of people talking.
Nico Iamaleava and Tennessee football are reportedly working on a new contract
The caption, music, photos and video at the end of his post has everyone wondering what he's trying to tell us. The video at the end of his post is of Conor McGregor, with the former UFC champion delivering quite the message about how he doesn't like outsiders getting involved in his business.
A coincidence that this kind of post arrived after the big report of the day came in? Not a chance. Iamaleava posted pictures of his family, while adding a bunch of photos with his Tennessee teammates towards the end. Is this his way of saying he's not going anywhere?
By all accounts, Iamaleava has a great relationship with everyone in Knoxville, of course including head man Josh Heupel. However, the stud QB and the program are now dealing with a contract negotiation that has become fully public.
Countless headlines are being written, while some are even thinking about where he could end up in 2025 if he does transfer. From our chair, though, we're hoping all of this will be for nothing and that Iamaleava will get things resolved on his end and be one of the top QBs in the SEC in '25. The Vols have already invested a ton in him and fellow playmakers around him. With the spring game this weekend, let's hope everything gets resolved beforehand and we can kiss the drama goodbye.