After the dust has settled on the Nico Iamaleava drama, Lucas Panzica now turns his attention to who is next at QB for the Tennessee Vols.
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00:00So we know the Nico Iamaliava era is over at the University of Tennessee.
00:04The next big question that looms is who plays quarterback for the Vols in 2025.
00:09We're going to evaluate their options next.
00:14Hey, Lucas Panzeca here, 104.5 The Zone and A to Z Sports.
00:18So the dust has largely settled in what was a wild three days.
00:22Nico Iamaliava first in contract negotiations with Tennessee
00:25and then holding out missing practice.
00:27And then, of course, the news on Saturday that the Vols are moving on from Nico as a program.
00:33So he's going to go look for that $4 million he was looking for elsewhere outside of the SEC.
00:39And now Tennessee has got to find an answer at quarterback.
00:41Now, this wasn't necessarily talked about, but there was football being played,
00:45at least practice, happening on the field at Neyland Stadium
00:48as the Vols were playing their orange and white game.
00:50It was not televised.
00:52It was aired on the radio courtesy of the Vol Network.
00:55Only two quarterbacks were in action.
00:57The only two quarterbacks currently on Tennessee's roster.
01:00And they are Jake Merklinger and George McIntyre.
01:04A pair of former four stars, one of which has an entire season under his belt as a backup.
01:09And that is Jake Merklinger.
01:11Both, by all accounts, have had an excellent spring growing within this system at the University of Tennessee.
01:17And there certainly is a situation in which they could compete for the starting job in 2025,
01:22where you would think Merklinger would be in the driver's seat for his added experience that he has with the whole year already under his belt.
01:30And now two spring practices under his belt with the program.
01:33But Josh Heupel did say in his press conference after the orange and white game that Tennessee plans to add a third quarterback to its roster in 2025.
01:42The spring transfer portal opens up on Wednesday, April 16th.
01:46It's a 10-day period where Tennessee will be on the lookout, either for a starter or for added depth at the quarterback position.
01:54So what could their options be?
01:56Well, right now, that's a very difficult question to answer, as no major quarterback at another Power Four or Group of Five conference has announced that he's entering the transfer portal after spring practice.
02:08In fact, most of these moves typically happen in the winter portal.
02:11That's when a lot of these big money moves certainly end up happening.
02:15Carson Beck to Miami, Darian Mensah to Duke.
02:19Of course, you have Bo Pribula going from Penn State to Missouri.
02:22That's largely when the action happens in the quarterback market.
02:26So when you look at Tennessee's potential options, all you can really do is look around at other high-profile quarterbacks that have a talent profile that could be attractive to Tennessee and vice versa if they're looking to level up in terms of program.
02:41Plenty of names have been tossed around completely speculative, right?
02:46Whether it's Sam Levitt, the quarterback that helped lead Arizona State to the playoff last year.
02:50Avery Johnson, the former four-star prospect who had a really impressive starting debut season last year for Kansas State.
02:58Again, none of these quarterbacks have announced that they're entering the transfer portal, but Tennessee is going to have its eyes open.
03:04And you've got to think that Tennessee's been doing some back-channeling when this NECO stuff really started to bubble back up to the surface to figure out if they needed a contingency plan, which it turns out they certainly will.
03:16Another interesting question is, how does this impact Tennessee's ceiling in 2025?
03:21It's not a question we can answer right now either because that was beforehand, just a few days ago, completely dependent on the leap that NECO Iamaliava was going to take from year one to year two.
03:32If Tennessee got the NECO they got last year, then this team would not be a playoff team.
03:36But if Tennessee got a NECO that took a next step and fully achieved that status of elite quarterback in college football, which has been the expectation of him from the jump, then the sky felt like it was the limit for Tennessee football.
03:49Now, it's a little bit back to square one at the quarterback position.
03:53I do know this seems like a galvanized group moving forward, and it'll be interesting to see if any other players follow NECO to the transfer portal.
04:01So, I will add that if they don't, that might be pretty telling about what NECO's impact was or wasn't as a leader within this locker room.
04:08But either way, Tennessee's quarterback options are as follows.
04:12Either Jake Merklinger or George McIntyre getting the start for the Vols in 2025 or a high-profile transfer that enters the portal here in the coming days.
04:22I will say this, a couple million dollars just freed up for Tennessee football in 2025.
04:27If there is a quarterback looking to take a step up in terms of program and is impressed by what Josh Heupel has done with quarterbacks earlier in his career,
04:36then Tennessee will be a very attractive landing spot for one of those guys.
04:40It's going to be a very interesting week, as it seems like it always is on Rocky Top.