Nico Iamaleava’s latest social media post is just further truth that there is no winner in his departure from Tennessee football.
Now a quarterback for UCLA instead of the Vols, Iamaleava posted a rather cryptic TikTok video of some of his highlights at Tennessee with a message that read, “gon miss my real ones.” The post was just another reminder about how poorly handled the entire divorce was when he suddenly headed west abruptly in April.
Who is to blame? Does it even matter?
Iamaleava was set to be one of the stars of college football had he stayed at Tennessee. Now, he’ll hope things work out closer to his Los Angeles home than in the SEC. The Vols, meanwhile, have a murky quarterback situation with Bruin transfer Joey Aguilar, sophomore Jake Merklinger and freshman George MacIntyre. Let’s spare rehashing the entire mess and focus on what the two parties can do to improve their football futures.
First, Iamaleava needs to take a firmer grasp of his fate. While most seem to think Iamaleava’s father, Nic Iamaleava, was the cause of the problem, it is clear that the younger Iamaleava did not end up where he wanted. That’s proven by his post of lament.
I certainly understand listening to parental guidance, but that can only carry one so far. Iamaleava was given some bad advice along the way and made the monstrous mistake of listening to it. That’s his fault. It would be wise not to repeat that mistake whether it’s in college football, in the NFL or just life in general.
As for Tennessee football, they have talent, depth and some experience at the quarterback position, but not much. Aguilar played in junior college and at Appalachian State but not at UCLA. Merklinger has played sparingly in mop-up duty in college. Most seem to think that Aguilar will step into the starting role. I’m not so sure.
Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I like Merklinger’s skill set and wouldn’t be surprised at all if he started for the Vols this season. Here’s the other issue: timing.
Aguilar may be more talented than Merklinger, but the senior is stepping into a terrible position. Quarterbacks are made in the offseason, and Aguilar only has a couple of months to ready himself for the SEC. That’s not ideal. Even former Vol and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning famously did not want to start as a freshman. He was forced to do so because of injury.
Aguilar doesn’t even have the advantage of spring practice with his new team, as most highly touted quarterbacks are accustomed to. I’m sure Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel would feel much better about the entire situation had Agulilar been a Vol in January. Still, there’s more than a chance that Aguilar can be ready for a couple of reasons.
Let’s begin with this: Heupel’s offense isn’t all that complicated. It’s not as if he’ll have to man some west coast offense based on multiple reads. Heupel’s play designs should get receivers open. Then, it’s up to whoever is playing quarterback to make some pretty easy decisions.
Aguilar also has the benefit of summer workouts, which are vastly underrated when it comes to skill-position players. Linemen are limited in what they can do without full pads, but quarterbacks and receivers can work long hours if so motivated.
That puts more pressure on Aguilar. He had better be ready to be a leader because everyone on campus and in Knoxville has questions about him and his play. Optimism has been the overriding sentiment for Aguilar and Tennessee’s marriage, but that’s just fandom at its best. Everything is sunny before the season begins.
While no one won in the entire fiasco, I can’t help but think that Iamaleava was the biggest loser no matter what he got paid by UCLA. The situation probably buys Heupel a little time at Tennessee if things go south this season and Aguilar gets to play on a bigger stage, but what did Iamaleava get? Well, some longing for his former home and, if he’s smart, a hard lesson learned.
