Urban Meyer sounds off on Nico Iamaleava saga: 'Tennessee is screwed'

In the wake of Tennessee opting to let starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava hit the transfer portal rather than give in to his demands for a new NIL deal, seemingly everyone in college football has come out in praise of Josh Heupel and the Vols. Iamaleava's actions — or, more accurately, the actions of his camp — were a sign of a sport run amok, the natural end-point of the Wild West that our current pay-for-play era had created. Tennessee finally decided that someone had to take a stand, so the thinking went, and we'd all be better off for it in the long run.

Urban Meyer, however, isn't having any of that. Sure, the current state of play around the sport might be untenable, and it would probably behoove the powers that be to finally institute some sort of guardrails around player acquisition and compensation. But none of that has anything to do with the team Tennessee puts on the field in 2025; this is a results business, after all, and Meyer's not so sure that Heupel won't regret taking a stand once the games begin.

Urban Meyer thinks Tennessee will regret letting Nico Iamaleava transfer

Meyer weighed in on the Iamaleava for the first time on his Triple Option podcast on Wednesday, and as is his wont, he did not mince words. "Tennessee is screwed," the three-time national champion said.

"You lose a potential high draft pick, the backup QB left last year and now you have a redshirt freshman that threw nine passes and a freshman — you have zero experience."

Meyer's not wrong to point out that letting Iamaleava walk puts Heupel's team behind the 8-ball ahead of what was supposed to be a season in which it contended for the College Football Playoff. Maybe they'll be able to shake something loose in the spring transfer window, but if not, the Vols will be asking a lot of former four-star recruit Jake Merklinger — especially with major overhaul along the offensive line and in the receiving corps.

Plus, Meyer knows better than anyone just how fickle this business can be. While Tennessee fans and boosters may be rallying around Heupel now, that won't last if and when the losses start to pile up in the fall.

"Everybody’s saying, ‘Nice job Tennessee, making a stand,'" Meyer said. "Tennessee plays Florida usually every year in October … Can you imagine that game’s going the other way and Coach Heupel grabs the microphone and stands on the 50-yard line in Neyland Stadium and says, ‘It’s okay, I made a stand way back when’?"

It might not be what the Vols want to hear, but it's also hard to argue with. This is a fan base that does not take well to struggling on the field, and it's hard to imagine them keeping pace with the likes of Texas, Alabama and Georgia — and other CFP hopefuls like Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, South Carolina and Texas A&M — while breaking in a totally inexperienced quarterback. If Heupel thinks that step backward is worth it in the long run, so be it; but Tennessee fans taking a victory lap right now could be in for a rude awakening.