Ad Disclosure
Could Nico Iamaleava return to Tennessee? CFB analysts make the case for a ‘re-worked deal’
Published:
Could Nico Iamaleava, after all of the chaos and consternation that led up to the star quarterback bolting from Tennessee, really return to Rocky Top when the dust settles?
On the surface, you would think even the thought of it is impossible after all the ugliness that went down before Josh Heupel’s program was left high and dry by Iamaleava’s departure. Tennessee was set to celebrate its annual spring game last weekend, but instead the program was engulfed by the Iamaleava controversy and sudden departure.
Yes, it was bad, really bad even, and Iamaleava officially entered the transfer portal on Wednesday on the very first day of the spring window.
But ‘wait a minute,’ says college football analysts Danny Kanell and Dusty Dvoracek. What if there was a path forward for Tennessee that actually included Iamaleava coming back to Knoxville in 2025 after his breakout 2024 season?
“What if he came back and he apologized? I’m just going to say this — Nico Iamaleava is a good kid. He’s a good person. He’s well-liked in the locker room. He’s a good guy in the locker room and he’s not a problem. They like him there at Tennessee,” said Dvoracek.
Kanell could see where Dvoracek was coming from on their College Sports podcast on SiriusXM radio.
“There would be a re-worked deal for sure,” said Kanell. “I don’t know how Josh Heupel and the staff view Nico as a prospect, but I would guess that they think their best chance of winning is with Nico. If they want to win, their best opportunity to do that is with Nico. I would say they would be willing to listen. But I would say there would be some massive stipulations.”
Here’s a clip from their conversation:
We’ll all find out what goes down with Iamaleava in the coming days and weeks, and maybe even months. But, just maybe, Iamaleava’s time at Tennessee isn’t done after all?
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
