Tennessee & Nico Iamaleava are in active contract negotiations ahead of the 2025 season

This was planned and timed by Nico's side....we could have had all spring to start working a new QB1, instead, he takes the QB1 snaps all spring, then pulls this crap at the end thinking it now gives him leverage and has us backed in a corner.

Well, he now only has a fall preseason to prepare at another school now and learn their players, their playbooks, etc and for sure will be very different than ours.
He'd better have a landing place picked out and ready for him. I've seen USC mentioned and I've no idea (nor care, really) what their Spring has looked like or who QB1 is there.

These days, though, Nico could move to the ACC after Duke went with $4M for a QB from..... Tulane?

CFB is bizzaro world.
 
Then let there be ripples. You don’t let some mediocre, overpaid players shake you down for even more money because other players on the team thought he would start. Players in pro sports get traded, cut, etc all the time. Doesn’t mean you decide to pay the 25th best QB in the NFL like he is top 5 because he practiced through the spring.
Well, I'm sure you'll be in game threads dissing whomever is QB, WR, Heupel and anyone else when the ripples show up.

Enjoy that negativity. It seems to be your niche.
 
So interesting that in his first real year of competition, he had very favorable numbers to Peyton Manning. I wasn't disappointed by him at all. Beat two of three rivals in his first season. Had one bad loss in Arky.
He was a second year player who enrolled early and got to play as a true freshman, even spent bowl prep as the starter in addition to preparing the whole offseason as a starter. Peyton was a true freshman who enrolled in the summer, prepared as a 3rd stringer who was going to redshirt, and was thrust in to duty due to two injuries. Stats are also way inflated these days compared to the 90s. Mentioning this little shít’s name alongside Peyton’s is blasphemous.
 
Well, I'm sure you'll be in game threads dissing whomever is QB, WR, Heupel and anyone else when the ripples show up.

Enjoy that negativity. It seems to be your niche.
I don’t post much in game threads because I’m watching the game. If the quarterback plays poorly, then I would say it, but I’d be saying the quarterback plays poorly if Nico comes back anyway. Might as well say it about someone who isn’t getting paid to be an All American.
 
Ya it kinda is.
You clearly have not been paying attention the last few years.
Unnamed sources are almost never reliable because they don’t exist
I’m guessing you are trying to compare politics, where a media member could have an actual agenda against someone, to sports where the media really doesn’t have an agenda against a 20 year old.

If all this is made up, why wasn’t Nico at practice? I bet you thought Travis Haney was a liar too.
 
Why not just lace his deal with incentives? Win the SEC, go the Playoffs....etc. Kinda seems like he doesn't want to be here, or has another offer elsewhere. IMO, let him go and throw the money at some receivers, Oline, and Secondary. Merk seems to be pretty good, at least good enough to win 9-10 games, which is probably our ceiling anyways.
 
Why not just lace his deal with incentives? Win the SEC, go the Playoffs....etc. Kinda seems like he doesn't want to be here, or has another offer elsewhere. IMO, let him go and throw the money at some receivers, Oline, and Secondary. Merk seems to be pretty good, at least good enough to win 9-10 games, which is probably our ceiling anyways.
Not possible according to the rules of NIL. They can't be performance based nor even specifically tied to one school.

The whole playing field is tilted to the players in the NIL world.
 
He'd better have a landing place picked out and ready for him. I've seen USC mentioned and I've no idea (nor care, really) what their Spring has looked like or who QB1 is there.

These days, though, Nico could move to the ACC after Duke went with $4M for a QB from..... Tulane?

CFB is bizzaro world.
Louisville would be the only ACC school that I can think of that may not have a QB and has deep pockets.
 
Invest the whole Spring in Nico as QB1 only to decide now to let him go?

On another front, I wonder if seeing the Pistol formation appear in practice was Heupel looking at Merk and G-Mac and planning ahead a little?

If that's the case, bad coaching. Spring is for development and competition. QB2 should be ready to QB1 all the time.

If Nico held out the end of camp for more money after he agreed to a deal, it says more about his poor character and integrity than anything else and is likely fuel for locker room issues. Call his bluff,let him walk.
 
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So a college kid with millions gets to buy the dip?
And the chips for $2M a year. 😉

Nico is already appearing on the NFL radar as a potential early draft pick for teams needing a QB in 2026 so his focus really on 2030 or so and that big NFL payday =IF= he pans out in the league.

Still, a reasonably early draft pick QB in the NFL usually does okay with a signing bonus. As I recall Peyton (1st pick) got a $16M signing bonus a LOOOOOOOONG time ago.
 
If that's the case, bad coaching. Spring is for development and competition. QB2 should be ready to QB1 all the time.

If Nico held out the end of camp for more money after he agreed to a deal, it says more about his poor character and integrity than anything else and is likely fuel for locker room issues. Call his bluff,let him walk.
QB2 has had about 20 college snaps and probably no meaningful SEC snaps at all. QB3 is a true freshman.

Experience matters and isn't a coaching thing.
 
Not possible according to the rules of NIL. They can't be performance based nor even specifically tied to one school.

The whole playing field is tilted to the players in the NIL world.
Ah I see. Well, gambling on high school kids seems like a losing proposition. Guess we'll see.
 
Is it our fault? Did this thread so influence Nico that he is running for cover (or running away)? Who was the assclown who started this mess of a thread?

lol
 
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QB2 has had about 20 college snaps and probably no meaningful SEC snaps at all. QB3 is a true freshman.

Experience matters and isn't a coaching thing.

How many snaps did Peyton have, how many did Tee have, how many did Clausen have, how many did Ainge have?

They cave to his demands especially the timing of this, they'll have problems from here on. It's not winning at any cost when those costs come with likely collateral damage to the program.
 
sad world we now live in. I bet Nico just wants to play ball and loves the University of Tennessee and his coaches, teammates and most fans ( probably more till yesterday). Sad is the person or people he has pushing this for more money. Sad is I"m sure we aren't the only school this is happening.
 
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