Insider Reveals New Details in Iamaleava's Tennessee Fallout

Nico Iamaleava is one of the largest topics of conversation in college football ahead of his redshirt sophomore season with UCLA. After a stellar redshirt freshman season with the Tennessee Volunteers that led them to their first ever College Football Playoff appearance, he entered the transfer portal after a NIL dispute that was largely publicized and turned him into one of the most polarizing figures in college football.

And now, more details about his fallout with the Vols has been revealed via college football insider Kirk Herbstreit in his latest appearance on the Try That Small Town Podcast.

“I don’t know the true story. I’ve heard different stories,” said Herbstreit. “Some people thought it was about money. I’ve heard from close sources it was more about Nico’s dad going to Josh Heupel, back in December before they played Ohio State, like, hey, listen, you’ve got to get better at offensive line, better at receiver. You’ve got to get better around him if you want us to stick around – which blows my mind that a college quarterback’s dad would do that to a head coach. And I think, at the end of the day, when they got into spring ball, it was still more of, you haven’t brought people in to make him and this offense better.

"Again, I don’t know if that’s true but that’s what I was hearing. So, I don’t think it was necessarily about the money. I think it was more about, is Nico going to be able to play well enough to eventually be a first pick in the draft with the players that they had around him.

“That’s disgusting to me if that’s true,” Herbstreit stated. “I wouldn’t expect Drake Maye to go to Mike Vrabel, or Drake Maye’s dad to go to Mike Vrabel, in the NFL and say, hey, listen, you guys are doing a shitty job. Think about that. In the NFL, you wouldn’t do that. And, a college parent is doing that?

“If that’s true, it’s mind-boggling that that’s where we are right now, that a Josh Heupel has to actually listen to a parent and feel threatened that his starting freshman quarterback might leave because he hasn’t done what the dad asked. Blows my mind if that’s in fact true.

“Wish him the best. See if it works out there at UCLA. But I think that story was incredibly strange and speaks volumes about kind of the times that we’re in right now in this sport."

What are your thoughts on Herbstreit's comments on Iamaleava?