Isn’t this kind of exciting? Tennessee might end up better at QB1 in 2025

Last Thursday morning, Tennessee fans were still overwhelmingly supportive of Nico Iamaleava. In his redshirt freshman season, he certainly didn’t live up to the expectations of an $8 million man, but I think 95% of Big Orange country could see the potential and were excited to see him lead the offense for another year. Oh, how quickly things can change.

Not even 24 hours after the initial Pete Nakos report on Thursday afternoon, which stated that Nico and Tennessee were still in ongoing contract negotiations, most of the fanbase was done with him for good reason. His fate was sealed when Nico decided to skip the final spring practice and not tell a soul. There was no coming back from that, and whether it was his decision or he was influenced by his father or someone else, it makes no difference. Good leaders don’t do that, and people who love The University of Tennessee don’t do that.

This means that when the spring portal opens tomorrow, Tennessee will have some spending money available to any Quarterback who wants to start in the SEC. It’s almost like a mini coaching search, and no fanbase anywhere loves a good coaching search more than Tennessee fans. Furthermore, this gives Josh Heupel some grace going into year 5. When you lose a QB that has been in your system for nearly 3 years, it hurts. On the other hand, isn't it kind of exciting? Maybe Tennessee goes out and gets a QB who is more productive than Nico would’ve been in the fall. After all, the best this offense has ever looked was with an under-the-radar transfer QB from Virginia Tech, so it is certainly possible.

We will see how well Tennessee can do in the portal, but at the end of the day, I think this 2025 Tennessee football team will be beloved either way.