Whatever is more of a predicament than being between a rock and a hard place, that's where Nico Iamaleava has left the Tennessee Volunteers. It came as a bombshell to begin with that the former 5-star quarterback who spent his first season as the starter in Knoxville in 2025 was trying to renegotiate his NIL deal with the Vols earlier this week. That was just the beginning.
There were some people who were skeptical about the possibility of Iamaleava actually departing Tennessee and that this all seemed like a leverage battle. That, however, wasn't the case in this instance as reports came across on Saturday that the Vols and Iamaleava are parting ways with the quarterback now set to enter the transfer portal for the spring window.
After an up-and-down 2024 campaign for Iamaleava that still helped lead the Vols to the College Football Playoff, the hope was that he was set to level up in his second season within Josh Heupel's offense. Now, he'll be learning a new offense. But for Tennessee, the question becomes where they turn now.
Looking at the Tennessee quarterback depth, the answer to that might well be the transfer portal in their own right.
Tennessee football QB depth chart without Nico Iamaleava
Depth Chart | Player (Year) |
|---|---|
QB1 | Jake Merklinger (RS-Fr.) |
QB2 | George MacIntyre (Fr.) |
As of right now, you have to believe that Jake Merklinger, a 4-star recruit in the 2024 recruiting cycle and the No. 160 overall player in the class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings, is the best option currently on the Volunteers roster to take over for Iamaleava. While he has no experience on the field after redshirting last season, he does have a year in the program to soak up the veer-and-shoot style offense and get his feet wet.
At the same time, in terms of internal options, Tennessee fans will certainly call for George MacIntyre to get a chance or at least an opportunity. The No. 150 overall recruit and a 4-star quarterback from this past recruiting cycle, the true freshman has potential beyond that with an absolute Howitzer of an arm and the tools to be an absolute force in the college football world and the SEC.
What stands out, though, is that the Vols are currently looking at two young quarterbacks with precisely zero in-game experience as their only options on the roster. For a program that was hoping to return to the CFP with Iamaleava, that's not a promising proposition.
That likely means that we'll see Heupel and Tennessee football scramble to be active in the spring transfer portal window as we start to see more players enter. Iowa's Brendan Sullivan entered his name and could be an option and there will surely be others. What the Vols should undeniably be in the market for is some sort of experience to add to the QB room. At minimum, that would give Merklinger and MacIntyre a leader in that room so that they aren't entirely learning on the fly.
All told, this is a devastating blow to the Volunteers. How they react in the wake of it could determine quite a lot about their immediate future success.