Nico Iamaleava’s divorce from Tennessee has set it up as one of the more interesting transfer portal options when the quarterback opened Wednesday.
But one ESPN analyst doubts that teams that need a quarterback should take trust at the signal.
Paul Feinbaum appeared on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning” on Birmingham’s WJOX-FM 94.5 on Monday, revealing an interesting situation he saw Iamaleava skip Friday’s practice after trying to secure a better NIL payment last week.
When Tennessee did not acquiesce, Iamaleava made it clear to his intentions that he would enter the portal and seek a new program.
“I’ll leave him,” Feinbaum said. “Buyers should be careful of this guy. It’s not even Nico. It’s the whole device. Personally, Nico is not personally in the middle of these negotiations. Team Nico is. That means he’s a toxic feeling about this player because everyone is talking. I’m very careful.
“First of all, you guys are better raters than me. But he’s a good quarterback. How is he elite? I mean, if you don’t have a quarterback, he’s a much better option than someone who can barely get a signal from a sideline coach.
Feinbaum also thought the volunteers did the right thing in the situation, but he wasn’t sure the team would often do something different.
“From all the early perspectives, I think Tennessee has done incredibly well,” Feinbaum said. “They are being praised and praised nationwide for driving him away. We don’t know if they have any options right now. He didn’t show up for practice and didn’t show up on Saturday, so they’re done.”
That’s still a mystery of quarterbacks landing ON3 reported Both Bill Belichick’s North Carolina and Tulane are out of running.
The outlet also reported that UCLA is interested.
