Tennessee is desperate to find a new quarterback after the departure of Nico Iamaleava and will spare no expense to get their guy. It won’t be Josh Hoover, who chose not to leave TCU despite a lucrative offer.
Swing and a miss! Strike one.
The Volunteers were expected to play the 2025 college football season with the same five-star quarterback who led them to the Playoff last season. They went through the entire spring practice period under the assumption that Iamaleava would be QB1. They paid him north of $2 million over the last two years to be the guy. There was no indication that this year would be different.
However, Iamaleava’s father encouraged his son to enter the transfer portal in search of more money— among other things. Tennesee was not willing to negotiate. Head coach Josh Heupel told him to walk.
The Iamaleavas were filmed packing their U-Haul on Wednesday and will take a pay cut at UCLA. The Vols immediately started their search for his replacement with this new-found chunk of cash.
According to Steven Johnson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, one of Huepel’s first calls was to TCU quarterback Josh Hoover. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound signal-caller completed 313 passes for 3,949 yards and 27 touchdowns last season.
Hoover at no point entered the transfer portal. His representatives made it abundantly clear on Wednesday night that he is not going to do so. He is staying with the Horned Frogs.
That did not stop Tennessee from trying. It reportedly presented Hoover’s camp with a lucrative NIL deal in hopes that he would move to Knoxville. The rising redshirt junior was offered approximately $1 million more than what he will make in 2025 at TCU, which is already in the seven-figure range.
Thanks, but no thanks! Josh Hoover is staying put.
I do not know if the Volunteers have reached out to other quarterbacks with this same offer but they are at least 0-1. And, assuming this account of what happened is accurate (I have no reason to believe it is not!), they are actively tampering.
It is illegal to contact a player who is not in the transfer portal. Even though it is happening everywhere, with everyone, it is technically against the rules.
But it might be even more embarrassing to get rejected anyway! Trouble on Rocky Top?