3 realistic ways the Nico Iamaleava fallout could end for Tennessee

Josh Heupel is understandably ready to move on.

After all, the Vols head coach has a lot of work to do. The next few days and weeks could decide Tennessee’s 2025 season, and to a lesser extent, Heupel’s future in Knoxville.

Nico Iamaleava is out the door, despite the Vols coaching staff advancing through spring practice with the working assumption that he would be Tennessee’s starter at the most important position in the sport. In past years, without the transfer portal being what it is today, Tennessee would probably throw its hands up and turn to redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger or true freshman George MacIntyre. But Year 5 Heupel can hardly afford to do that in today’s NIL landscape. You’d better believe fans will be calling for his job if Tennessee finishes 7-5 or worse.

Is all that fair? Maybe not. But it’s the brutal world college football players, coaches, administrators and fans live in.

There are a few different ways I see this panning out for Tennessee. First, let’s start with some brutal honesty.

There’s a reason why the Volunteers didn’t pay Iamaleava the $4 million he and his camp were asking for. If he’s Garrett Nussmeier or Cade Klubnik, he almost certainly gets that money. But he’s not Garrett Nussmeier or Cade Klubnik. At least, he hasn’t shown fans or Tennessee’s coaching staff anything to convince them otherwise.

What excited Tennessee fans about the prospect of Iamaleava being under center in 2025 was not based on his 2024 performance. It was based on potential. Remember, a ruthless Tennessee defense mixed with an angry Dylan Sampson willed the Vols to last season’s College Football Playoff, despite Tennessee’s passing attack recording numbers that were among the worst in the conference. Iamaleava’s passing stats are closer to Joe Milton (eerily similar, actually) than they are to Hendon Hooker, folks.

Despite the obvious arm talent, Iamaleava’s proficiency (or lack thereof) as an SEC starter is reflected by his poor production in the vertical passing game. The deep ball simply has to connect to properly run Heupel’s offense, and while Tennessee’s receivers didn’t help Iamaleava much last season, the numbers are the numbers:

The way I see it, there are 3 ways this can go for Tennessee.

Future No. 1: Best Case Scenario (for Tennessee, at least)

I wouldn’t put it past Tennessee if they waved that $4 million Iamaleava was reportedly asking for to any potential portal entrants purely out of spite.

Money talks. TCU, Baylor and Iowa State seem pretty confident that Josh Hoover, Sawyer Robertson and Rocco Becht will be their respective starting QBs next year, but you could have said the same thing about Iamaleava at Tennessee about 2 weeks ago. I’ve even seen some float Sam Leavitt out of Arizona State as a possibility.

All 4 of those quarterbacks — and any other big name, really — would be crazy not to at least entertain the offer of coming to play in the premier conference in the land at Neyland Stadium, in front of one of the most passionate fanbases in sports. Tack on a big payday, as the Vols would almost certainly offer, and the decision becomes all the more enticing.

Sounds great, right? It’s definitely a feasible outcome, but allow me to bring you back down to Earth for a second.

Regardless of who Tennessee decides to roll with under center in 2025, there is going to be a heck of a learning curve. Any of the names floated above would be entering an offense that moves at a quicker tempo than anything they’ve been used to, and they’d be expected to do so with about 4 months of preparation.

As much as Sam Leavitt would be a fantastic upgrade for Tennessee, would he really leave Kenny Dillingham after the amount of success the Sun Devils saw last season? You could make that argument for a lot of the top names Tennessee will be going after.

Not to mention, with or without Iamaleava, all signs point to Tennessee’s 2025 offense being equal or inferior to 2024’s unit. There’s an awful lot of turnover to address, at least.

The Vols lack proven weapons on offense as of April 2025. This is a unit that has been completely reworked after the losses of workhorse RB Dylan Sampson, receivers Bru McCoy and Dont’e Thornton and 6 total offensive linemen. If Tennessee is going to pay for a QB, they should funnel additional resources into adding a receiver or 2 to join Mike Matthews and Chris Brazzell.

Future No. 2: The most likely (and most boring) route

I’m not completely convinced that Tennessee’s starting QB for 2025 isn’t already on the roster, but Tennessee would never publicly admit that. Make no mistake, the Vols are going to try to bring in a transfer QB. The real question is whether the money mentioned above will be enough to lure a guaranteed step up from what Iamaleava could have given Tennessee.

It’s fun to sit back and think about Josh Hoover or Sam Leavitt under center, but what if Heupel and Tennessee’s boosters can’t (or won’t) get a deal done with a big name? From there, Tennessee would have to turn to the FCS ranks, high-upside bench pieces or those set to enter starting roles from around the country, such as Washington’s Demond Williams, UCF’s Dylan Rizk (who recently entered the portal) or Sacramento State’s Carson Conklin.

Of those options, Williams would perhaps be the most interesting. He was a star in Washington’s bowl game against Louisville, throwing for 374 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. He’s a dual threat guy who is only going to get better, and he has at least 3 remaining seasons of eligibility as he enters his first full season as the Huskies’ starter.

Above all else, UT has to give the team options aside from Merklinger and MacIntyre, 2 QBs who have a combined 48 passing yards at the FBS level.

… Right?

Future No. 3: Oh, Dear

What’s Gaston Moore doing right this second?

The longtime Heupel backup entered the portal at the end of last season and never found a home. Regardless, he has 1 year of college eligibility remaining and could be called up for one last ride. Every single name listed above possesses more talent than Moore, but “Gas Pipe” has one major advantage on all of them: Experience within a chaotic system. It’s worth noting, he also beat out Merklinger for QB2 last season.

I’m not sure even Future No. 1 is enough to lead Tennessee to the College Football Playoff, though it is certainly plausible. Future No. 2 would take a small miracle. In a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency scenario, what if Tennessee instead spent that money on improving the offense as a whole, brought in Moore and let him battle it out with Merklinger and MacIntyre in a hunt for 9-3, 8-4?

Make no mistake, I don’t necessarily think this is a winning strategy. But if all else fails, why not? Even if Future No. 1 or 2 shakes out, what’s the hurt in bringing Moore back as a veteran leader? The Vols’ strength next season, like it was in 2024, relies on defense and the run game – all the offense really needs to do is keep from sinking the ship entirely. Avoid, oh I don’t know, 3 straight games without scoring a touchdown in the first half, for example.

Of course, there’s another faint possibility buried in this future scenario. What if one of the 2 freshmen is just… the guy? Merklinger and MacIntyre are not talentless — both were high-end 4-star recruits and made some flashy plays during spring ball. The roster has seemed to rally behind Merklinger especially.

Wishful thinking? Probably. But just maybe, Heupel has more trust in his current QB room than anyone on the outside knows.

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone is a Tennessee graduate and loves all things college football and college basketball. Firm believer in fouling while up 3.