The current levels of fan apathy for Alabama spring football could be much worse. At least the Crimson Tide isn’t as pathetic as Tennessee.
In Tuscaloosa, everyone had better things to do than attend A-Day on a beautiful spring day. Fans stayed away on Saturday — some people will blame the practice format; I blame losing to Vanderbilt — but the good news is that all the quarterbacks were in Bryant-Denny Stadium. Up in Knoxville, the rival Volunteers are in crisis mode after former quarterback Nico Iamaleava decided to hit the transfer portal for more money.
Is Tennessee too poor to pay its starting quarterback, or are the Vols smart by cutting ties with a guy they don’t think is worth the money? We’ll see, but for now I’m going to side with the player on this one.
People in Tennessee and elsewhere are gnashing their teeth about Iamaleava’s hold out, but we saw this coming and the Volunteers are now a lesser football team for not bringing back their starting quarterback for his sophomore season. Tennessee and its backers will spin this as addition by subtraction, but Iamaleava led the Vols to major victories against Oklahoma, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky and Vanderbilt in 2024 and those wins put Tennessee into the playoffs.
Iamaleava struggled at times, sure, but he was good for a freshman.
Fans around the SEC don’t have much of an appetite for players demanding more money, so everyone is going to side with Tennessee on this one, but let’s not act like one team is any better than another. At Georgia, former starting quarterback Carson Beck is now at Miami and reportedly making $4 million a year. At Alabama, freshman defensive back Jaylen Mbakwe put his name into the transfer portal and called it “a business decision” before the Tide gave him a raise.
How is this situation with Iamaleava somehow different? It’s not. It’s just messier because Tennessee didn’t take care of business before the spring game (or final spring practice or whatever they’re calling it these days).
Iamaleava made huge headlines a few back when he became the first quarterback recruit of the NIL era to receive a multi-million dollar offer. Now Iamaleava is ahead of another trend. Do I like this trend? No, not really. I liked college football a little more when the idea of school spirit meant more to the players, but maybe I’m just old school like that.
I can appreciate the fact that college football’s NIL era is all that the current players know and that guys like Iamaleava might never make this kind of money ever again … in their entire lives.
Should certain teams get a discount? The SEC doesn’t have franchise tags. There are no multi-year contracts. I’m not about to blame the players or their agents. This is the new system of college football by decree of the Supreme Court. Pay up or lose games.
Look at it this way. Iamaleava was better than Jalen Milroe last season. Seems like he’s probably worth the investment.
You know who wins when Tennessee can’t pay its returning starter at quarterback? Alabama wins. Florida wins. Vanderbilt wins.
No justice was served by Tennessee telling Iamaleava to walk. The Vols don’t look stronger today than they were last season. Tennessee isn’t as good without Iamaleava and now the Vols are looking for a starting quarterback after spring practice.
Iamaleava wasn’t a Heisman favorite, but he might have been the best returning quarterback in the SEC. Don’t act shocked that he wanted more money. He was in line for a bump in pay based on the current market. Duke is apparently paying $4 million for a quarterback from Tulane (Darian Mensah) this year. College football is a business, and holding out for more money is now just part of the game.
“No one is bigger than the Power T,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said on Saturday.
Yeah, sure coach, but it takes good quarterbacks to win the SEC and compete for a national championship. Last time I checked, good quarterbacks are a little harder to conjure than righteous indignation after getting burned by a 20-year-old.
Maybe Tennessee just can’t afford a returning starter at quarterback.
Peyton Manning defeated Alabama as a freshman. Think Manning would be getting a little more money going into his sophomore year at Tennessee in 2025?
I think everyone can agree that rising sophomore Tim Tebow would have received a bump in NIL cash after helping the Gators win a national championship in 2006.
How much would Auburn have paid for Cam Newton? Whatever the figure, it would have been worth the money. Newton won a national championship in his only season with the Tigers.
Think Tua would have given Alabama a discount after 2nd and 26?
Tennessee was a favorite to win the SEC with Iamaleava at quarterback. Not anymore. Now the Vols will be looking for a transfer in the portal, but everyone knows that Tennessee is unwilling to pay the going rate for a proven winner in the SEC.
When Heupel loses to Alabama and Vanderbilt this year, no one is going to remember how Tennessee’s coach had the perceived moral high ground over his former starting quarterback back in the spring.
