There appear to be two lines of thought regarding why Nico Iamaleava left Tennessee Football, and the truth could be somewhere in the middle. Based on what was leaked to ON3 Thursday, the way Iamaleava’s team responded Friday and what Josh Heupel said Saturday, you would think Heupel and the Vols cut ties after Iamaleava ghosted the team Friday.
That ghosting appears to have been a response to the ON3 report, but it also appears as if Iamaleava’s camp was asking for more money. However, amidst all of that, former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who claimed Vols were lying, said over the weekend that it was about scheme.
According to Houshmandzadeh, Iamaleava’s camp wanted Tennessee Football to incorporate more pro-style elements into Heupel’s system this fall to make sure he’d be prepared for the pros. Houshmandzadeh said former Vols are claiming they weren’t prepared for the pros under Heupel and that the route concepts receivers run at UT aren’t used at the next level.
Now, let’s get something out of the way. Based on comments by Will West of 99.1 The Sports Animal on Off the Hook Sports’ Friday show, it does seem there are football demands Iamaleava made. From the Vols’ perspective, those demands were about help, hence why they added two transfer offensive linemen during the winter portal window.
However, what Houshmandzadeh misses is his claim doesn’t make UT look any worse. First off, it doesn’t matter whether or not the last round of contact was during the January window. Iamaleava took part in all of spring practice, so if that was going to justify a holdout, you’d think it would start before they put on the pads in March.
Most importantly, though, it’s not incumbent upon Tennessee Football to change its offensive scheme to prepare Iamaleava for the pros. Heupel’s system is already known to not do that. He coaches his quarterbacks to see one side of the field while taking advantage of the far hash marks at the college level with wide splits.
Heupel has been running this specific offense since he was offensive coordinator of the Missouri Tigers in 2016. When Iamaleava committed to UT in 2022, he had Heupel’s body of work from those two years as Mizzou’s OC, three years as head coach of the UCF Knights and one year as head coach of the Vols to go off of.
By that point, it was obvious that you don’t commit to Heupel to develop for the NFL. You commit to put up video game numbers that will boost your draft stock and then hope a team takes you high, which comes with guaranteed dollars, while developing you at the next level.
Sorry, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. College football has got a long history of quarterbacks having to choose if they want to develop at the college level for the pros or put up the video game numbers to boost their draft stock. It’s usually one or the other.
In the 1990s, quarterbacks who committed to Steve Spurrier and the Florida Gators wanted to put up video game numbers. Then there was Peyton Manning, who committed to David Cutcliffe so he could develop for the NFL. Manning’s decision helped him at the pro level. Danny Wuerffel didn’t work out in the pros, but Spurrier did make him a top four round pick.
Arch Manning was in the same quarterback class as Iamaleava. He chose to commit to the Texas Longhorns, not because of Steve Sarkisian’s history of helping quarterbacks put up big numbers but because of his history of pro style concepts. It was a way to develop for the NFL.
If Iamaleava preferred developing in a pro style system, Tennessee was never a place for him, and to say he was misled on that front in any way would be a flat-out lie. To expect the Vols to incorporate those elements, which flies in the face of Heupel’s philosophy, is beyond unreasonable.
As a result, it’s safe to say Houshmandzadeh’s claims about Iamaleava don’t hurt the reputation of Tennessee Football at all. If anything, they make Iamaleava’s camp look worse. Future advice to all recruits at quarterback, UT isn’t going to coach you fundamentally for the pros. You go there to put up the numbers. That’s it.
