Quarterback Nico Iamaleava unintentionally gave the Tennessee Vols a very useful gift when he left Rocky Top

Quarterback Nico Iamaleava unintentionally gave the Tennessee Vols football program a very useful/valuable gift by leaving Rocky Top earlier this spring. 

Now, before I get into this, I should note that I think losing Iamaleava, regardless of the circumstances around his departure, is a tough blow for Tennessee. Iamaleava is an obviously talented player, and I think he was poised to take a big step forward in his development this fall. 

But because of how things played out, we'll never know what his 2025 season at Tennessee would've looked like. 

And ultimately, it doesn't matter. The reality is that Tennessee will have a three-man quarterback battle this summer/fall between UCLA transfer Joey Aguilar, redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger, and true freshman George MacIntyre. That's all that matters. Whatever happened with the Iamaleava situation is in the past for the Volunteers. 

Nico Iamaleava's unintentional parting gift to the Tennessee Vols

Iamaleava's departure from Tennessee was a gift for the Vols in the sense that it erased expectations for the program in 2025. 

Before Iamaleava left Tennessee for UCLA, the feeling was that the Vols needed to take a big step forward in 2025 after getting knocked out of the first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff last season. Essentially, if Tennessee, with Iamaleava under center, didn't at least match last year's success, the season would've been viewed as a failure. And head coach Josh Heupel would've been catching some heat from fans and media. 

But now that Tennessee's quarterback situation is completely up in the air, the national media is basically giving the Vols a pass in 2025. No one is expecting Tennessee to return to the College Football Playoff this season. Some analysts are even suggesting that winning eight games would be a "solid" season for the Vols in 2025. 

This is when Heupel's teams are at their best (as we saw in 2022). When expectations are low and no one believes, Tennessee (under Heupel) tends to play with a chip on its shoulder. 

"I think he (Heupel) likes to play with a chip on his shoulder, or coach with a chip on his shoulder," said VolQuest's Austin Price on Tuesday during an appearance on 104.5 The Zone. "I think that Josh Heupel sees this as a real challenge to kind of prove himself a little bit. And Tennessee, in general, is always better when they are the underdog in all sports....when Tennessee has been kind of thought of as middle of the road, like how they'll be picked come July at SEC media days, I think they always kind of perform better." 

The pressure is off Heupel and the Vols because Iamaleava left at the end of spring practice, which put Tennessee in a tough situation at the quarterback position. 

As a result, Tennessee can just focus on playing without the weight of big expectations. 

Does that mean that Tennessee is going to go 10-2 during the regular season like they did in 2022? 

I have no idea. No one does. 

But we know that the Vols are at their best when they play free and easy under Heupel. And I'm almost certain that's the approach we'll see from Tennessee in 2025 thanks to Iamaleava's departure.