Tennessee coach Josh Heupel opens up on schools ugly Nico Iamaleava divorce

Josh Heupel put his mouth where the extra money wasn’t for Nico Iamaleava.Iamaleava became college football’s first hold-in of the NIL era when he no-showed practice Friday while trying to negotiate a better payment.Tensions and uncertainty quickly escalated between the sides and Tennessee removed Iamaleava from its roster before Saturday’s spring game, and he reportedly declared his intention to enter the transfer portal when it opens on Wednesday.“It’s the state of college football,” Heupel told the in-house Vol Network.“At the end of the day, no one is ever bigger than the program.

That includes me too.“We’ve got an opportunity.We’ve got a bunch of guys who are going to give their all for Tennessee.

We move forward.Got a great group.

Let’s go compete.”Iamaleava, a potential first-round NFL Draft pick in 2026, wanted to renegotiate his multi-year, $10 million NIL deal with the school, according to ESPN.Tennessee became aware that Iamaleava’s camp had reached out to Oregon about a potential transfer, the report said.The Volunteers will search for another quarterback in the portal — potentially a starter — but they played Saturday’s spring game with just two scholarship quarterbacks: Redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre as the backup — both of whom were four-star recruits.“It’s unfortunate – just the situation and where we’re at with Nico,” Heupel told reporters after the spring game.

“I want to thank him for everything that he’s done since he’s gotten here.”Heupel, a former Heisman Trophy runner-up at Oklahoma, said that he tried to reach his now-former quarterback several times after Friday’s unexpected no-show but still had not talked to him.It was clear the relationship was over at that point, and Huepel told his players about the split before Saturday’s scrimmage. “You come off the practice field and there’s no communication,” Heupel said....