Kirk Herbstreit on Nico Iamaleava controversy: ‘I applaud Josh Heupel for standing up’

Kirk Herbstreit has weighed in on the controversy that has taken over college football in recent days.

And while others like Urban Meyer have taken their shots at how Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel handled the Nico Iamaleava saga, the ESPN college football analyst has a different outlook. Herbstreit thinks Heupel did it the right way as he watched his star quarterback bolt from Knoxville in the noisiest way possible.

During an appearance on Wednesday on The Pat McAfee Show, Herbstreit stood up for Heupel for standing up to Iamaleava’s camp.

“Most people I talked to have come to grips with NIL, with understanding that players are being paid and that’s kind of part of the world,” said Herbstreit. “Now, having a player like this hold his team hostage even though he’s being paid handsomely … you get these agents or these dads who are playing a dangerous game with universities. I applaud Josh Heupel for standing up and not because players don’t deserve to be paid, but because of how this unfolded and the timing of it.”

Here’s a longer clip of Herbstreit’s comments:

Iamaleava officially entered the transfer portal on Wednesday morning. Tennessee is down to 2 scholarship quarterbacks with his departure: Jake Merklinger and freshman George MacIntyre.

Cory Nightingale

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.