Tennessee Vols HC Josh Heupel speaks on Nico Iamaleava departure

It's been a tumultuous 48 hours for the Tennessee Volunteers football program and it all stems from the departure of star quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Ahead of the spring game, head coach Josh Heupel made his first public comments on the situation.

"At the end of the day, no one's ever bigger than the program. That includes me, too, and we got an opportunity, got a bunch of guys are giving them off for Tennessee, and we move forward, got a great group. Let's go compete."

Josh Heupel comments on Nico Iamaleava's departure

It's been a tough time for the Volunteers program, as they are essentially guinea pigs for NIL. We've seen teams across the nation give players more money to stay, but this one became public quickly. 

Due to the public nature of the situation, the departure of Iamaleava has sent shockwaves across the nation and Tennessee arguably became the first school to publically tell their starting quarterback no in this new era.

Now that the situation is in the rearview mirror, Heupel is ready to see what he hs in his quarterback room.

"We got two guys in that room excited to watch go play. They've had a really good spring. They've grown throughout it, excited about getting out, having a chance today. Get out in front of our fans and our guys go compete today."

We will see how things turn out with the Volunteers over time, but they are ready to move on.