This whole thing has been a complete and total mess. On Saturday morning, the college football world was rocked with the news that Tennessee Vols quarterback Nico Iamaleava was leaving Knoxville to continue his college career elsewhere.
Since then, plenty of people have been bashing Nico, as he was set to make around $2.5 million this season - reports indicated he's looking for something close to $4 million. However, not everyone is blaming the young quarterback for what has happened.
ESPN's Dan Orlovsky blamed college football as a whole for all of this drama. Former Auburn national champion winner Cam Newton is also defending Iamaleava a bit, instead focusing on the awful advice he got from his reps. Plain and simple, Newton didn't hold back in saying said reps have ruined his life:
Nico Iamaleava got BAD Advice… @CameronNewton explains why they ALL missed the bigger picture pic.twitter.com/dfBUdC9Frv
— 4th&1 with Cam Newton (@4thand1show) April 15, 2025
Nico Iamaleava has entered the transfer portal with a 'do not contact' tag
"Whoever gave him the advice to sit out, killed that kid," Newton said. "Whoever told his father or whoever told him the inkling of we need more money - yeah you would think it's about money, but this has everything to do with advice. Who advised the Iamaleava family to make this decision? This is what you must understand Nico and Big Nico, regardless of how you bounce back from this, you will be the example."
Newton went on to add that Iameleava is going to have this as a stain on his career and it's easy to agree with him there. Iamaleava just helped Tennessee win 10 games and reach the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.
Were there some ups and downs in Year 1 as the starter? Absolutely - he struggled big time in throwing the ball downfield early on in the year. However, Iamaleava continued to grow and Vols fans trusted him to get this team back to the CFP next season.
With the way the QB market changed, however, it opened the door for him to chase a bigger bag. That's what this all came down to: money. In recent days, plenty of teams have leaked that they aren't interested in Iamaleava, with Pete Nakos even reporting that several programs are only willing to offer him around $1 million. This has people convinced that Iamaleava's team overplayed their hand with the Vols.
On Wednesday morning, the news broke that Iamaleava has officially entered the transfer portal, doing so with the 'do no contact' tag. Is this a hint that he already has his next destination locked in? Who knows. What we do know is that Iamaleava has played his final snap with Tennessee and Newton, among many others, is disgusted with how everything went down.