In the whole Tennessee Vols and Nico Iamaleava breakup situation, we never heard the boy’s story. Disbanded by Josh Heupel and staff, where Vols painted him as the “CFB’s villain” for chasing more NIL money, in a QB swap at UCLA, he actually never uttered a word as to what happened. People were quick to judge and call him greedy outright. So, Joel Klatt grew a soft side for him and, on his behalf, narrated his side of the story.

On Klatt’s namesake show, FOX’s Colin Cowherd said, “He didn’t chase the dollars at UCLA. He said it was family, but in the end, he basically – the family, offended Tennessee, and Tennessee said stop sign – out.” That sentiment set the table for Klatt to finally explain what so many around the sport had speculated but never heard directly. Klatt’s defense of Nico Iamaleava was striking because it peeled back the narrative Tennessee rushed to sell.

“I will say I like to come to his defense. Yes, a lot of the things that you said were true. Here’s how I would defend Nico a little bit is because he never really got a chance to tell his side of the story. And you know, Tennessee ran out basically a propaganda effort and got to tell the story without Nico being involved at all. It was not all about money. It really wasn’t. If it was, he wouldn’t have gone to UCLA, which is the telltale sign. He wanted the offense to grow with him,” Klatt opened up. In other words, the “villain” moniker was born more out of convenience than truth.

And here’s the heart of it: Klatt pointed to the scheme. “That offense that Josh Heupel runs is almost like a glorified high school offense. It’s the old Art Briles offense that they ran at Baylor. And the reason that it doesn’t develop a quarterback is because everything is a half-field read. So, it’s wide receiver choice routes on one side of the field, which is why none of those Baylor quarterbacks made it in the NFL. And Nico understood that, and he knew that, and so they wanted the offense to expand and to grow and to develop, and when it didn’t do that through spring football, that’s when he was like I don’t know if this is the right place for me,” Klatt explained. That insight reframes the entire departure: this was as much about fit as it was about finances.

QBs of Iamaleava’s caliber, five-star blue-chips, don’t just think about Saturdays. They think about Sundays. And in a system where your job is reduced to half-field reads and tempo-driven spacing, the pro tape suffers. Klatt’s point echoes what many scouts have whispered: while Josh Heupel’s system inflates numbers, it doesn’t prepare QBs for the NFL’s complexity. If Nico saw an offense that wasn’t developing, his choice to leave becomes less of a money grab and more of a career-preserving pivot.

Where Tennessee failed Nico most wasn’t simply schematic—it was narrative. Klatt reminded, “He never got to tell that story because Tennessee immediately ran out there and made it a money issue and tried to take the virtuous route and say ‘Oh woe is us, look at what our quarterback is doing holding us hostage’. Which, in the very same breath or in the next sentence, Tennessee was turning around and contacting guys that were at other schools and trying to get them to transfer to Tennessee – in clear tampering violation.” That’s the hypocrisy. The same staff crying foul over loyalty was fishing in other ponds. The NCAA’s gray lines on tampering allow such things to skate, but the optics remain. As Klatt said, “Tennessee got away with all of this from a narrative standpoint, which is unfair to Nico Iamaleava, and I hope he succeeds, and we’ll see.”

We don’t know if we’ll ever know the full story of what happened behind the scenes between Iamaleava and the Vols. What seems clear is this: his family did have real concerns about the offense and the offensive line, concerns that extend beyond NIL. That doesn’t mean money wasn’t a factor—it usually is—but it wasn’t the sole driver. Breakups are rarely clean; both sides tend to leave key details out. Ultimately, Nico left for UCLA, and Tennessee moved forward, and both likely wish the other well.

No villains here

Publicly, both Vols and Iamaleava have handled the situation with class. Josh Heupel told reporters at SEC Media Days that he loves Nico. And Iamaleava refrained from taking any shots at Tennessee while representing the Bruins at Big 10 Media Days. For a saga that’s been spun as messy and fueled by finger-pointing, that restraint matters. Nobody’s out here throwing grenades in press conferences.

Now, about the whispers of tampering. Klatt’s comments hit a nerve when he pointed out that Tennessee was in “clear tampering violation” as they tried to approach players from other teams and convince them to be part of the Vols. However damning it may sound, let’s be real—this is CFB. Tampering is part of the DNA at this point. Every staff member has their backchannel conversations; some are just better at hiding the tracks. And yes, Tennessee eventually landed Joey Aguilar, so the smoke around the tampering talk felt a little thicker. But is Tennessee uniquely guilty? No chance.

At the end of the day, I don’t believe either side is the villain they’ve been made out to be. This was simply one of those unfortunate splits.