Oregon football snitched to Tennessee about Nico Iamaleava’s wandering eye

Former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava is now with the UCLA Bruins after a tumultuous spring with the Vols. There was a lot of drama surrounding Iamaleava’s exit, as the whole situation was very public because of numerous reports that surfaced around the time of the events.

Iamaleava was reportedly looking for more money from Tennessee, and when he didn’t get it, he bolted to the college football transfer portal. A recent report from ESPN goes more in-depth about the whole situation, and it details how the Oregon football team was involved.

When any player is thinking about hitting the transfer portal, they want to know that they are going to be able to land on their feet. Before Nico Iamaleava entered the portal, he reportedly reached out to some schools to gauge their interest.

“Tennessee sources say they believe the Iamaleavas reached out to several schools, including Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon, to gauge interest,” a report from ESPN states. “Tennessee coach Josh Heupel was seemingly able to smooth things over and keep Nico on board for 2025, but the quarterback did not receive a new deal or more money.”

Obviously, Heupel’s efforts did not last as Iamaleava did in fact end up entering the transfer portal. Before that went down, the Oregon football team informed Tennessee that they had heard from Iamaleava’s camp.

“Before Tennessee’s spring practices began in March, school officials were alerted by Oregon’s staff that Iamaleava’s camp had contacted the Ducks inquiring about their interest, according to sources at Oregon and Tennessee,” the report said. “Oregon told the Iamaleava camp it wasn’t interested.”

Iamaleava was the starting QB for a College Football Playoff team last year, but he didn’t receive a lot of interest when he entered the transfer portal.

The Miami Hurricanes, Ole Miss Rebels and Oregon Ducks are all programs that are losing their starting QBs to the NFL, and you would think that an experienced QB who took a team to the CFP would receive some interest. Obviously, Miami already landed a transfer with that same claim to fame as the Canes have former Georgia QB Carson Beck, but Ole Miss and Oregon clearly weren’t budging either.

Nico Iamaleava ended up transferring to UCLA. The Bruins are far from being a College Football Playoff contender as they have a lot of work to do to become one of the better teams in the Big Ten, but perhaps a player like Iamaleava will go a long way for the program. It’s not Oregon, but Iamaleava did still end up in the Big Ten, and it will be interesting to see how his career with the Bruins develops.