Kirk Herbstreit reveals new details on Nico Iamaleava, what led to departure from Tennessee

The most notable transfer of the offseason, certainly in storyline at least, was that of QB Nico Iamaleava as he entered his name into the portal in the spring. Now, with several details reported since his move from Tennessee to UCLA in April, Kirk Herbstreit has shared some more based on just what he heard about that matter.

In an appearance last week on the ‘Try That In a Small Town’, Herbstreit revealed some of what he had been told of Iamaleava’s transfer. He said he’d heard it had come about based on demands, before last season even ended and over the course of the spring, by Nic Iamaleava, Nico’s father, to improve the roster around his son to better position him in his mind as the Volunteers’ quarterback.

“I don’t know the true story. I’ve heard different stories,” said Herbstreit. “Some people thought it was about money. I’ve heard from close sources it was more about Nico’s dad going to Josh (Heupel), back in December before they played Ohio State, like, hey, listen, you’ve got to get better at offensive line, better at receiver. You’ve got to get better around him if you want us to stick around – which blows my mind that a college quarterback’s dad would do that to a head coach. And I think, at the end of the day, when they got into spring ball, it was still more of, you haven’t brought people in to make him and this offense better.”

“Again, I don’t know if that’s true but that’s what I was hearing,” said Herbstreit. “So, I don’t think it was necessarily about the money. I think it was more about, is Nico going to be able to play well enough to eventually be a first pick in the draft with the players that they had around him.”

If that was the case, Herbstreit couldn’t have disagreed with how it played out more, labeling those circumstances as “disgusting” and “mind-boggling”. He just could not believe that college sports would have reached a point where something like that could happen within the walls of a program

“That’s disgusting to me if that’s true,” Herbstreit stated. “I wouldn’t expect Drake Maye to go to Mike Vrabel, or Drake Maye’s dad to go to Mike Vrabel, in the NFL and say, hey, listen, you guys are doing a shitty job. Think about that. In the NFL, you wouldn’t do that. And, a college parent is doing that?”

“If that’s true, it’s mind-boggling that that’s where we are right now, that a Josh Heupel has to actually listen to a parent and feel threatened that his starting freshman quarterback might leave because he hasn’t done what the dad asked. Blows my mind if that’s in fact true,” said Herbstreit.

Iamaleava was the Vols’ QB1 in 2024, completing 63.8% of his throws for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, and five interceptions in helping to lead Tennessee to a 10-3 record and their first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff. Then, in summary, On3’s Pete Nakos reported on April 10th that he and the program were in the midst of contract negotiations before he would hold out and miss practice on April 11th. Ahead of their spring game on April 12th, Iamaleava was reported to be entering the portal in the spring cycle with Heupel informing his team that they would be moving on from their formerly returning starter. He, a Long Beach native, would then go on to commit to UCLA on April 20th, officially ending a story that went just over a week and represented a lot about the state of some aspects in collegiate athletics.

Herbstreit, like others who have spoken on this issue, didn’t wish any negative on Iamaleava as many are interested to see how he nows does with the Bruins in LA. Still, he thinks the subject as a whole goes far beyond a player just transferring because of the way that he and those around may have gone about doing it.

“Wish him the best. See if it works out there at UCLA. But I think that story was incredibly strange and speaks volumes about kind of the times that we’re in right now in this sport,” said Herbstreit.