Tennessee football is moving on from starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava, per ESPN. This is because the play caller missed recent team meetings, as well as a practice session.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel informed the team of the decision at a team meeting Saturday, per the outlet. The Volunteers had big expectations for Iamaleava for the 2025 campaign. Tennessee will now be either looking in the transfer portal for a starter, or promoting from within.

Iamaleava was holding out due to a dispute with the school over NIL, per NBC Sports. NIL stands for name, image and likeness, which allows a college player to profit during their college career. The quarterback intends to enter the transfer portal, per On3.

The former Tennessee quarterback had a breakout season in 2024. Iamaleava finished the campaign with 2,616 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Tennessee and Nico Iamaleava didn't have a good ending

Iamaleava already was getting a substantial amount of NIL compensation for his play. He was expected to rake in as much as $2.4 million for this year from Tennessee, per NBC.

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The quarterback enters the transfer portal as a hot commodity. He vastly improved his numbers from 2023 to 2024. Last year, Iamaleava completed about 64 percent of his passes for a Volunteers program that finished 10-3. The program made the College Football Playoff, before losing to eventual champion Ohio State.

Iamaleava and his representatives wanted to get him a raise of up to $4 million for his NIL. There aren't many schools who can afford that type of agreement, so it is likely a big time program with national championship aspirations will snatch him.

Despite this rough ending, there is good news for Tennessee. The spring transfer portal opens on April 16, so the Volunteers won't have to wait long to search for a new quarterback.

The former Tennessee quarterback was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. He threw four touchdowns apiece in the team's last two 2024 regular season games, against UTEP and Vanderbilt.