Have we all forgotten about the power of the T on the helmet? Right now, from the outside, it feels like things are a bit of a mess for the Tennessee football team leading up to next season. A lot of us were caught off guard with Nico Iamaleava bailing on the program in search of more NIL money.
That's over with, as Josh Heupel and the guys inside of the locker room have said it's time to move forward. As things stand, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre are the two scholarship signal-callers on campus.
However, with the spring transfer portal officially open, there's expected to be some movement in the QB market. So, for guys considering transferring, the door is now open to make the move to Knoxville to play in front of 100,000 fans for an SEC powerhouse fresh off a trip to the College Football Playoff? Yeah, that sounds like a great situation to us.
For everyone assuming Tennessee is going to tamper to grab their next QB...are we sure Tennessee's phone isn't the one that's ringing from other QBs?https://t.co/iSwJKQlNTL pic.twitter.com/YbdOxg29Af
— J.D. PicKell (@jdpickell) April 15, 2025
Josh Heupel should have no issues bringing in a Nico Iamaleava replacement
During a recent show of his, On3's J.D. Pickell brought up a fantastic point. Some fanbases have been furious with Heupel and the Vols, assuming some tampering is going on with other quarterbacks. However, what if those quarterbacks and their agents are the ones reaching out to UT?
This wouldn't be a surprise at all. Tennessee won 10 games last year and Heupel no question has this program on the rise. Gone are the days of Butch Jones having people ready to pull their hair out - Jeremy Pruitt is out of town as well.
Heupel is an offensive genius and he's going to be ready to take a new QB under his wing for the 2025 campaign. There's still a chance we could see Merklinger start Week 1 against Syracuse, but the buzz around college football circles is that a big-name playmaker will be Tennessee-bound soon enough. This is something a lot of people are hoping for too.
The spring portal doesn't close until April 25, which means Heupel and his staff have a little bit of time to make a statement with an impressive addition. Some names have been floated around, including Avery Johnson, Haynes King, Sawyer Robertson and others. As of this writing, none of those guys have entered the portal. Might that change to play for a historic SEC program? It'd make a lot of sense if it does.