Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has remained tight-lipped regarding former Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s entrance into the transfer portal, but reports suggest Oregon has been in the loop for some time.
According to a bombshell report, Iamaleava made initial contact with the Ducks earlier this offseason to gauge their potential interest in him transferring to their program.
Oregon, along with other programs contacted such as Notre Dame and USC made it clear that they were not interested in Iamaleava.
However, Lanning apparently didn’t like the dirty games that were being played behind close doors and decided to notify Josh Heupel and the Tennessee program.
Naturally, reporters tried to get to the bottom of the story and find out what exactly happened.
However, Lanning wasn’t in the mood to deep-dive into anything having to do with Iamaleava when he was asked about the report after Oregon’s scrimmage this weekend.
“Not getting into anything else except, let’s talk about the scrimmage today. The Ducks worked really hard in a scrimmage today,” Lanning said.
The apparent disinterest from Oregon reflects both confidence in their current quarterback competition and a sense of direction that may not align with Iamaleava’s goals – particularly those tied to lucrative NIL opportunities.
Iamaleava, once a prized recruit, clearly overplayed his hand as he attempted to hold-out in an effort to have his already-massive NIL deal increased.
After skipping Vols practice last Friday and ignoring repeated efforts from Heupel and Tennessee’s staff to contact him, the respected head coach decided it was time to put his foot down.
To the surprise of some, but not many, Heupel announced that the program is moving on from Iamaleava.
“I want to thank him for everything he’s done since he’s gotten here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he competed inside the building,” Heupel said. “Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today. There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T. That includes me.”
The decision reportedly had the backing of athletic director Danny White, who gave the final push to part ways.
“This program has been around for a long time,” Heupel added. “There are a lot of great coaches, a lot of great players who came before that laid the cornerstone pieces, the legacy, the tradition that is Tennessee football.
“It’s going to be around a long time after I’m gone and after they’re gone.”
While there are unconfirmed reports that Lanning and the Ducks may reconsider their stance on Iamaleava now that he’s officially entering the transfer portal, many fans refuse to believe that will be the case.
After all, Oregon is in solid shape at the quarterback position, having already brought in former five-star Dante Moore from the transfer portal.
Moore is competing for the starting role alongside Austin Novosad, with both having sat behind Heisman finalist Dillon Gabriel in 2024.
On his podcast Late Kick, CBS Sports’ Josh Pate weighed in on the wild Iamaleava situation and revealed that Nico nearly held-out of Tennessee’s College Football PLAYOFF game against Ohio State last season.
In other words, despite being paid $2.4 million per year, the tension with Iamaleava was only building.
Though Oregon had been heavily involved in Iamaleava’s recruitment out of high school, the relationship seems firmly in the past.
The Ducks are now focused on developing their current talent ahead of the April 26 spring game, where Moore and Novosad will go head-to-head in front of fans at Autzen Stadium.
As for where Iamaleava will end up, we most likely won’t have to wait too long to find out. The spring transfer portal window officially opens this Wednesday, April 16, and closes April 25.
There are rumblings that the three teams most interested in Iamaleava are UCLA, Tulane, and Bill Belichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels.
Assuming the report is true, what are your thoughts on Lanning exposing the “secret shopping” that was taking place behind Tennessee’s backs???
