Tennessee's football roster is MOSTLY intact after Nico Iamaleava's departure

AtoZ Sports

Lucas Panzica analyzes why more Tennessee Volunteers didn't enter the transfer portal in the wake of Nico Iamaleava's departure.

Transcript

00:00The spring transfer portal window is officially closed seven Tennessee players entered their name

00:05and I think there was a pretty clear statement made by this football team

00:09by the players that did not go in we'll talk about it next

00:12hey Lucas Panzeca here from 104.5 the zone and A to Z sports so seven players going into the portal

00:20after spring practice in that 10-day spring portal window they are of course as we know

00:26headlined by quarterback Nico Iamaliava who goes to UCLA in a highly publicized contract dispute

00:33with the University of Tennessee over an NIL figure we don't need to rehash that entire situation the

00:39other six players that have hit the portal for Tennessee are offensive lineman Aiden Bustle

00:43offensive lineman Larry Johnson three defensive backs in John Slaughter Christian Charles and

00:49Jacoby Thomas as well as wide receiver Dayton Sneed who transfers to UNC now when you look

00:56look at those players that went in not a lot of high impact guys that Tennessee is set to lose

01:02for 2025 really the biggest one you look at is Jacoby Thomas maybe the biggest surprise of this group

01:08of players former MTSU transfer who figured to play a starting role in Tennessee's defensive backfield

01:14next season but he is on the way out and then a guy like Larry Johnson who was probably gonna battle

01:20for the five-star freshman or with the five-star freshman David Sanders Jr. for presumably the

01:26starting right tackle spot opposite Lance Hurd at left tackle Larry Johnson on the way out perhaps that

01:32is a sign that David Sanders Jr. did enough in spring practice to make it seem like he is gonna be the guy

01:39at right tackle for Tennessee in 2025 which again is a positive development for the Vols if that is the case

01:46and then of course Nico Iamaliava now I will say when the news initially broke from Pete Nacos of

01:52on three sports that Nico Iamaliava was in a contract negotiation with Tennessee and then of course the

01:58next 48 hours escalated and next thing you knew Josh Heupel saying Tennessee is moving on spring ball is

02:04over Nico is in the portal my biggest concern was that if Nico hits the transfer portal there could be a

02:10mass exodus of players that follow high-level impact players like wide receiver Mike Matthews who we know

02:17for a fact considered entering the transfer portal in the winter window after the conclusion of the

02:22regular season like Boo Carter the defensive back who got some run on offense in the spring who also

02:28considered entering the portal in the winter window I thought if players like that that are affected

02:34by the quarterback position lose their guy Nico Iamaliava they very well could go look for greener

02:40pastures to find a spot with a more stable quarterback situation there are wide receiver needs all over the

02:47country certainly somebody with the talent profile of Mike Matthews could have found a landing spot with

02:53probably a pretty good NIL figure but neither of those players left they both stayed in fact most of

02:59Tennessee skill position players stayed on campus with the exception of course of Dayton Sneed a depth

03:06guy who was not going to get any run in this Tennessee offense anyway really the biggest impact of Dayton

03:11Sneed transferring to UNC is the fact that his brother Carson Sneed the highly recruited tight end out of

03:17Nashville is committed to the Vols and who knows if that will impact his recruitment but that certainly

03:22would be the biggest impact of Sneed's departure if any so I think it's telling that Mike Matthews

03:29Boo Carter really the majority of Tennessee's starting lineup on offense remained in Knoxville

03:34even after Nico left I don't know if that speaks to Nico's leadership or lack thereof it was a big

03:41talking point for us Nico trying to grow as a leader for the Vols in 2025 but I can't help but think back

03:47to that press conference with Myles Kitzelman, Arian Carter, Jake Merklinger, and George McIntyre after the

03:53spring game Myles Kitzelman with how fired up he was with just how Tennessee's roster seemed to come

04:01together in a way that we hadn't quite seen yet that publicly in the hypo era after their quarterback

04:07left them in the dust so to speak and Tennessee I think made a statement that maybe Nico did not have

04:14a stronghold on this locker room that he was such a high level impact player from a relationship

04:20standpoint that him leaving would cause other players to leave I thought it was telling that

04:25there was not that exodus that I feared there could be when Nico went into the portal obviously

04:30it's a very positive thing for the Vols now they'll look to continue to add the portal is closed that

04:35just means players cannot go into it Tennessee can absolutely still add players that are currently in

04:41the transfer portal and you'd expect them to add at least a wide receiver for the 2025 season

04:47ironically Nico Iamaliava's family wanted Tennessee to do a lot of things they wanted Tennessee to pay

04:53Nico more money they wanted Tennessee to add more wide receivers and now that Nico's gone a couple

04:58million dollars just freed up and Tennessee's got a little extra money to add the receivers that maybe

05:03Nico's camp wanted funny how things come around in that way so the Vols can still make some moves

05:08but I don't think we should ignore the fact that when Nico went out the door most of Tennessee's core

05:14stayed put in Knoxville to me it says something about the current culture inside of that building

05:19led of course by head coach Josh Heupel

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